Author:
Publication: The Telegraph
Date: February 29, 2012
URL: http://www.telegraphindia.com/1120229/jsp/frontpage/story_15193644.jsp#.T4e-kjjwC80

A television journalist was thrashed in Jadavpur while trying to capture on camera an alleged Trinamul raid on a CPM office that doubled as former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s election control room.

TV journalist Partha Pratim Ghosh, 24, was chased, thrown to the ground and kicked and punched, which chief minister Mamata Banerjee described as “shajano ghatana (staged incident)”.

Ghosh, who works for STAR Ananda, was not the only one assaulted. Subhasish Ghatak, a reporter of the Anandabazar Patrika, and Pintu Mondal, a photographer, were slapped repeatedly and hit with a chain wrapped around the fist.

Television footage showed a uniformed policeman standing next to the assailants, one of whom apparently was a cop off duty. Ghosh said there were “50-60” policemen in the vicinity and none of them tried to save them.

Ghatak and Mondal were present when the Trinamul supporters stormed the CPM office. They had been tailing a procession where Trinamul supporters walked with sticks and rods. It stopped outside the CPM office. When the duo stepped out of the car, the Trinamul supporters surrounded them and the assault followed.

The beating continued for 10 minutes after which police intervened. They put Ghatak on a two-wheeler and took him to Patuli police station. Mondal was taken there in the office car.

Ghosh’s assault dragged longer. He is now in the intensive therapy unit of Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences.

At Writers’ Buildings, chief minister Mamata Banerjee said: “Ota shajano ghatana. Kichchhu hoyni (The incident is staged. Nothing of that sort has happened).”

Told about the images captured by TV cameras, Mamata repeated: “Mithya katha shajiyechhen. Aapni shajiyechhen. (You have done it. It is false).”

From his hospital bed, Ghosh recounted the assault.

When I came to know about an attack on Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s main election office on Tuesday morning, I rushed to the spot. The party office of the Jadavpur local committee (2) is located about 50 metres off Gangulybagan crossing on Raja Subodh Chandra Mullick Road.

As I entered Gangulybagan East Road and parked my two-wheeler, they could sense that I was a reporter. The moment I took out my camera, some Trinamul supporters, among them a woman, came running at me. About 50 policemen were present in front of the party office then. They were standing between the supporters of both the parties. About 150 people from both parties had gathered by then.

First, the woman rushed towards me and asked me to switch off the camera. As I kept the camera switched on, she placed her hands in front of the lens to block the view.

The crowd around me swelled soon. They tried to take away my camera but I resisted. About 12 people took me into a narrow lane opposite the office. They had started to slap my face and hit me on my head and back. One of them asked, “kotha theke?” (which channel do you represent?) I told them that I was from STAR Ananda and it was my job to document if there was any trouble.

The person replied, “jekhan thekei hoye thako, kono chhobi hobe na. Aamra 34 bochhor dhore mar kheyechhi, tokhon keu chhobi toleni.” (I am not bothered which news channel you belong to, you won’t video record anything. When we were being beaten up for 34 years, nobody took pictures and you won’t take any picture now).

The blows came on uninterrupted. I did not get any chance to reason. They pushed me out of the lane and started to drag me towards the Gangulybagan crossing. It took over a minute to reach the main road and, all along, they kicked me on the back and slapped me. I was verbally abused. There were so many policemen around but no one intervened.

On reaching the crossing, they pushed me down on the road and about 10 men started kicking me. I am feeling terrible pain on my lower back and hip. When the blows slowed down, I stood up, thinking that their brutality had ended. But I was wrong.

They again took me inside another lane and started slapping me. It had been about 15 minutes that they were beating me. Everything happened in front of the police.

Now three policemen came and intervened. They rescued me from the gang. I pleaded with them to put me on a police vehicle and drop me some distance away from there, where I would be safe. There were many police vehicles. But the policemen didn’t do so. They were least bothered about my security.

They stopped a passing two-wheeler and put me on that. As the two-wheeler started moving, I saw a group chasing it. They were running behind. I told the owner to stop near Big Bazaar (near Gangulybagan) and asked him to speed away. Then I entered the lane opposite the outlet, trying to hide. They tailed me in this lane, too.

I started running and pleaded with a group of people to save me. They finally took me inside a house where I remained in hiding. I called my office then and informed them of my plight.