Kolkata:
Many in Kolkata, including Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, were celebrating cricket Bollywood style at the IPL opening ceremony, when news came in that a 24-year-old Left student leader had died in police custody. Another student is in critical condition, after undergoing a seven-hour surgery. Their colleagues allege that the police beat them brutally after they courted arrest.
Sudipto Gupta was among hundreds of Students Federation of India (SFI) activists who courted arrest on Tuesday afternoon during a protest against the Mamata Banerjee government's decision to put off college union elections.
The police, which bundled the students into buses and took them to jail, claim that Mr Gupta hit his head on a electricity pole as he was getting out of a bus. But SFI activists who were present there allege that the police rained blows on him with batons after pushing him off the bus.
"We were protesting peacefully when the police lathi-charged us," said Ritabrata Bhattacharya, a student leader.
Another leader said, "They hit Sudipta so badly we couldn't recognise him."
Mr Gupta was rushed to hospital, where he died. His colleagues have alleged there was delay in his treatment. The autopsy report is expected today. Another student's arm was almost severed, allegedly when the police smashed it through the window of a bus.
Mr Gupta's funeral will be held this afternoon. His stunned family wants those responsible for his death punished. "The people responsible should get adequate punishment," said his father Pranab Kumar Gupta.
The SFI is the student's wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which has slammed Mamata Banerjee. "It's very clear what level the Mamata Banerjee government can sink to. This is an attack on democracy," said CPI(M) leader Nilotpal Basu.
The CPM and its students wing have demanded a judicial probe into the death.
Congress leader and Union Minister Manish Tewari said he was "personally disturbed" by the student leader's death. "The time has come to lay down a protocol on how the police should deal with peaceful protesters," Mr Tewari said. "We need to rise above political partisanship. I don't want to score brownie points against the Trinamool Congress."