Cuffs for click on Kella cartoon | ||||
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Dhor beta ke (catch him)! These were the words with which began chemistry professor Ambikesh Mahapatra's ordeal as he walked past the gate to his New Garia housing estate around 8.10 on Thursday evening. "Ei hochche assistant secretary (he is the assistant secretary)," someone shouted, pointing to the Jadavpur University professor. Then came the kicks and punches, punctuated with verbal abuse. Mahapatra winced and pleaded to be told why he was being assaulted. The man who would do the explaining was waiting for him in a first-floor office room of the New Garia Development Co-operative Housing Society Ltd. "Apnara khub baar berechen. Ei je apnara amaderCM sombondhe mail korechen ei shob chokranto!(You people have gone too far. This mail you have sent about our CM is part of a conspiracy)," screamed the person residents identified as local Trinamul leader Arup Mukherjee. A piece of paper with pictures of Mamata Banerjee, Mukul Roy and Dinesh Trivedi, accompanied by blurbs inspired by Satyajit Ray's Sonar Kella, lay on a table. Mahapatra got the answer he was looking for, but the real story was yet to unfold. Sources said Mukherjee had been in the housing society's office since 6pm, apparently to speak for a group of building material suppliers whom the co-operative allegedly owed around Rs 17 lakh in outstanding bills.
The cartoon that Mahapatra had mailed to acquaintances using the official email ID of the housing cooperative wasn't even part of the conversation until much later, they said. "This wasn't just about a cartoon. The men behind the assault had been threatening us for a long time to force us to clear their inflated bills," Kartik Sinha Roy, the co-operative's treasurer, told Metro. The co-operative was formed in 1984, though it wasn't until 2009 that a governing body was elected under the supervision of a government official. "The bills were due from the previous managing committee that had run the society for 10 years. We had raised questions about those bills, making the suppliers angry," Sinha Roy said. Fresh elections are due on May 20, which some residents say could be another reason for the siege to the housing estate that culminated in professor Mahapatra being attacked. "The current committee is dominated by Left supporters. Trinamul is desperate to find a foothold," said a source in the co-operative. Most residents sympathised with Mahapatra, saying he had been made a scapegoat. "I saw those men slapping and kicking him without giving him a chance to defend himself. It was pathetic," said Keshab Chakraborty, a resident. In between the battering, Mukherjee called East Jadavpur police station from his cellphone. "We have got the man who sent an obscene email about our CM. Come and arrest him," he was quoted as saying. Mahapatra, who was in tears by then, admitted it was a mistake to send the mail from the official ID of the housing co-operative. "But I have already apologised for it. Please don't beat me up like this," he pleaded. The suppliers and their henchmen then asked the professor to apologise in writing, which he did on the official letterhead of the housing co-operative. "I even wrote that I was resigning from the post of assistant secretary but they tore up the letter, saying it wasn't enough," Mahapatra recounted on Friday evening, after he had been released on bail by an Alipore court. "I wrote a second letter as I was scared for my life. I was forced to write that I was an active CPM worker and had sent the mails with a motive," the professor said, sipping tea at a stall on the court premises. "The men handed over the letter to the police when they arrived around 10pm (on Thursday)." Two cops came in a jeep to take Mahapatra away along with Subrata Sengupta, the 72-year-old secretary of the co-operative. Sengupta had pleaded with the assailants several times not to hit Mahapatra. "Being the secretary, all mails from the official ID were supposed to be sent by Sengupta. But since he isn't familiar with the Internet, I would do all the communication on his behalf," Mahapatra said. "This is a very unfortunate incident. If the professor was arrested because of a cartoon he had posted about the chief minister, then it is unacceptable. This is very autocratic…. I earlier did not want to use the word scary but I have to admit that this scares me. I have seen so many of these cartoons on Facebook, how many people are going to be arrested? This is not right. People should stand up and protest." Abhirup Sarkar, "It is almost incredible that an innocuous political joke can lead to criminal action. Criminal charges like outraging the modesty of a woman are being brought for forwarding it. This is an absurd situation. When the chief minister of the state is a woman, then should every criticism of the government now amount to insulting the honour of a woman? Then any speech becomes impossible!" Sukanta Chaudhuri, "No one has the right to irritate or hassle someone directly. It is anybody's democratic right, if attacked personally to react. If seen in that light, the legal steps taken will seem justified. This JU professor has been sending direct emails and SMSes to Mukul Roy. He is a political activist." Shuvaprasanna,
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Saturday, April 14, 2012
Cuffs for click on Kella cartoon Evening of horrors greets prof at home
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120414/jsp/calcutta/story_15372122.jsp#.T4mN3LNa5vY
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