Arrested SFI activist chained to hospital bed

Photo: Post Jagran

A 19-year-old SFI activist, who fell ill after being arrested, was chained to his bed in North Bengal Medical College hospital.

One of the 51 SFI activists arrested on April 10 from Siliguri, Santosh Sahani, a first-year BA student of Siliguri Surya Sen College, was chained to the hospital bed for over six hours on Monday night.

Santosh had gone to the party office after being told that it had been vandalised by TMC supporters. He was arrested and was in the same bus as Sudipta Gupta, who died later. Santosh was produced in the court on April 11; he fell ill and was taken to Siliguri District Hospital. Two days later, he was sent back to jail and when he fell ill again, was shifted to North Bengal Medical College. He was allegedly kept handcuffed for the first two hours. Later, his feet were allegedly tied to a bed.

"For six hours he was shouting that he needed to go to the toilet but no one paid heed to it," eyewitnesses said.

CPM leader Asok Bhattacharya, who visited Santosh on Tuesday, said, "It is an inhuman act. When I went there this morning, he had been taken for an MRI and when he returned, the police officer on duty said that he will not be chained if I tell him not to. I was furious and took picture of the handcuff used to tie him to the bed. I have reasons to believe that TMC minster Gautam Deb had instructed him to be removed from the Siliguri District Hospital." Bhattacharya said that Santosh had seen Sudpita die and was in a state of shock.

Police commissioner Anand Kumar refused to comment on the issue.

Courtesy: Indian Express