Kolkata: Students largely stayed away from schools and colleges while traffic came to a virtual standstill in many cities of West Bengal yesterday as Left youth groups protested over the death of a student activist in police custody.
Classes in educational institutions were hit across the state following a strike called by the Students Federation of India (SFI), the students wing of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, and other leftist student organisations.
“Students protested spontaneously against the oppressive and outrageous assault by the state government on a democratic movement,” SFI’s all-India general secretary, Ritabrata Banerjee, said.
Sudipto Gupta, 24, an SFI activist, died here in police custody on Tuesday after he took part in an agitation.
Commuters had a difficult time due to the protests during the day and there were long traffic snarls on major roads, particularly in Kolkata, following blockades put up between 11am and 11.15am by slogan shouting student activists.
Students of Calcutta University staged a demonstration in front of the College Street campus, while blockades were organised in several parts of the city.
In other districts, blockades were organised in major towns.
Shops and commercial establishments remained closed in south Kolkata’s Tollygunge, Dhakuria and Garia areas. where the Left Front organised a 12-hour general strike,
Gupta’s death has triggered outrage across the country.
Police claim Gupta died due to a head injury sustained after crashing against a lamp post while being taken to Presidency Correctional Home following his arrest. The opposition Left Front alleged he had succumbed to injuries sustained during a heavy lathi-charge by police.
State Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called the death of Gupta “unfortunate” and pledged to help his family.
Left activists said Gupta, a post-graduate student of Rabindra Bharati University, was “mercilessly beaten” while he and other students who had staged a protest seeking elections in colleges were being taken in a bus to the Presidency Correctional Home.
Gupta reportedly fell from the bus and collapsed after hitting a lamp post, said an SFI member.
IANS
