A civil society Awakens

For the first time in West Bengal in decades, the middle class and civil society, not political parties, pushed the CPM-led Left regime and its top police brass to the wall

Rajat Roy Kolkata

The candles are still burning in front of his portrait, placed near St. Xavier's College, the city's elite academic institution. Occasional strangers stop by, and the volunteers waiting there immediately offer them a candle to light a flame, and a pen to write their names. It is simple, symbolic and poignant action, a replay of a tragic ceremony in silent protest.

They have heard of the Calcutta High Court's order for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the mysterious death of Rizwanur Rahaman, a computer graphics design teacher at a local IT school in Kolkata. They are also aware that after the high court order Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya has finally, and reluctantly, taken some tentative steps, which he has been fiercely desisting despite tremendous public outcry. The accused police officers, including the police commissioner, have been finally transferred, making way for a CBI investigation. But will they ever be punished by a regime loaded in their favour?

The handful of people who started this candle-light vigil in front of Rizwanur's alma mater are no political bigwigs or celebrities or fire-brand activists. They are all invisible, ordinary, faceless citizens of Kolkata. Nevertheless, the idea gradually caught on and people started coming out on the streets to record their protests against what they perceived as a case of 'dirty play' of money power and connivance of the political and police establishment.

It is these ordinary citizens who scored a victory when the government's attempt to resist a CBI investigation into Rizwanur's death was rejected by the high court. After that, Bhattacharya, who, till the other day, was ignoring the demand for removal or suspension of the police commissioner and four other 'accused' police officers, announced their transfer. But it is too little and too late. The political setback and loss of credibility suffered by the Left Front government and the ruling CPM is much too evident to be white-washed anymore with politically correct rhetoric.

The political parties came out with expected reactions, but their reactions were usually muted. Even a die-hard opposition party like Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress knows that it is basically a victory for the civil society. And if one goes by the reactions coming from the civil society and the 'ordinary people', then it becomes clear that they are not going to stop at that. People have tasted success, and they want to push their campaign harder.

Sujato Bhadra, an activist of the Association of People's Democratic Rights (APDR), comments, "I cannot recollect any other event when the civil society in Bengal asserted so vocally in demanding justice. The people of India voted out Indira Gandhi after the Emergency. In Bengal this time, people came out on the streets ignoring the religious laksmanrekha to protest against police brutality, money power and the state government's callous attitude. This is unprecedented." Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt described it as 'historic victory'. While visiting Rizwanur's Tiljala residence in Kolkata, he said that never before had so many people from all sections of society come together to press for social and legal justice.

Sujato Bhadra is deeply involved in the campaign. It was Sujato to whom Rizwanur first turned to for help and complained in writing about the police pressure he was being subjected to after he got married to Priyanka Todi.

This coming together of different sections of the civil society is a new phenomenon in West Bengal. In the last 30 years of Left rule, the state has been so politically polarised that it left little space for ordinary people and groups to act on their own. The all-pervading presence and power of the ruling party and its muscle-flexing cadre, and its absolute control over civic life, had reduced citizens to mute and helpless spectators. Critics and dissidents called it a 'totalitarian regime'.

From the early days of the daylight massacre of the Ananda Margis (1982) in the heart of city, to recent police atrocities in the name of curbing Maoists or the Kamtapuri agitation, most people chose to remain aloof. In 2002-2003, when the police started large-scale operations against the Kamtapuris and Maoists, and thousands of poor people were thrown into jails in Bankura, Midnapur, Purulia in south Bengal and Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar in north Bengal, there was no public outcry.

When Kaushik Ganguly, a teacher of Calcutta University's Science College, was arrested and tortured by the police on the flimsy ground of having connections with the Maoists, only the academic world of the city protested. Around the same time, another incident shook the conscience of the city intelligentsia, when young Avijit, from an urban middle class background, committed suicide after suffering ignominious treatment by the police. He was charged with having alleged connections with the Maoists which were not substantially proved.

Even at that time, only a section of people from 'urban educated Bengal' demanded a CBI investigation. This time, it has been different. Although mainstream Left intellectuals remained silent, a number of eminent citizens were vocally angry. Writer Mahasweta Devi, stage personality Saoli Mitra, sociologist Bula Bhadra and others questioned the motive of the government in resisting a CBI investigation and demanded immediate removal of the accused police officers.

That the officers resorted to coercive measures in separating Rizwanur from his newly-wed wife is now proved beyond doubt. Clearly, the controversial police commissioner, Prasun Mukherjee, (now removed from his post), reportedly in the good books of the chief minister, defended his officers despite knowing that they were indulging in illegal activities.

The CPM state secretary, Biman Bose, tried to defend the police saying they did not know that Rizwanur and Priyanka were married — this was a brazen lie. All these transparent lies and half-truths enraged the people, but unlike other times, this time they protested openly and vociferously. Once the civil society started reacting, and the protests multiplied across the spectrum, the media was forced to take a proactive role. Vernacular channels gave wide coverage to the people's agitation and newspapers kept the issue alive on their front pages. Hasim Abdul Halim, the speaker of the West Bengal assembly and a leader of the CPM, openly supported the people's demand, reflecting the anguish of the minority community.

After hearing the high court order for a CBI investigation, Rukbanur Rahaman, brother of Rizwanur, said that it was a victory of the common people. The chief minister admitted this grudgingly when he said that the government decided not to go for appeal against the high court ruling in deference to the emotions of Rizwanur's family and the popular mood.

Indeed, early this year, citizens of Kolkata, including eminent personalities of Bengal (as it was across the country), protested strongly when the police fired into protesting farmers in Nandigram and killed at least 13 people. That was the beginning of this public rupture with the CPM-led Left Front regime. Rizwanur's death and the state government's insensitive attitude brought the civil society to its feet. Now, after getting a favourable court order for the CBI investigation, they are preparing for the depositions to be made before the judicial commission instituted by the government.

It is widely hoped that this public alertness is going to usher in a refreshing wind of political and social change and creative dissent in the politically polarised society of 'conformist' Bengal, often suffocating in absolute control of the CPM. Till that time, the candles are likely to burn in front of the college campus, in the heart of the city, in memory of a love murdered by the powerful ruling establishment.

Money power in red

On October 17, 2007, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya removed Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee, and four other officers, bowing to public opinion. The reason for the massive public outrage was that the police commissioner and four of his subordinates had allegedly pressurised a young Muslim man from a middle-class background to break his marriage with a girl from a wealthy Hindu family, which resulted in his death. The victim, Rizwanur Rahman, a computer graphics teacher, married Priyanka Todi on August 18, 2007 and had kept it a secret for some time. On August 31, Priyanka came to Rizwanur's Tiljala residence in Kolkata and made her marriage public.

Prior to that, the young couple informed the local police stations and DC (south) 'in writing' that although they were adults when they got married, they were apprehending harassment from businessman Ashok Todi, the bride's father. After that it is said that a director of Todi's company introduced Todi to Prasun Mukherjee who started pressurising Rizwanur. Between September 1 and 8, DC (HQ) Gyanwant Singh, and another official Ajay Kumar, summoned Rizwanur four times to Lalbazar, the Kolkata Police Headquarters, and threatened him with arrest on charges of abduction of a minor girl and theft of Todi's valuables.

Seeing that the couple refused to yield to pressure, the police then allegedly requested Priyanka to go back to her parents' house for seven days with an assurance that she would be allowed to return. But, once there, all communications between her and her husband was snapped and despite repeated requests from him, the Todis never allowed Rizwanur to talk to his wife. Rizwanur contacted APDR, a human rights organisation, and complained 'in writing' about this harassment at the hands of the police.

On September 21, Rizwanur's body was found lying by the railway track near Patipukur, near Dumdum, far away from his Tiljala home. The next day, even before the post-mortem report was ready, the police commissioner called the press and announced that Rizwanur had committed suicide and the police did nothing wrong, even if they had interfered in the life of the two adults initially.

Then on, the public started protesting against the nexus between money power and police. Several citizens and groups demanded removal of the police officers and the arrest of Todi. Veteran CPM leader Jyoti Basu and other Left leaders joined the chorus. But Buddhadeb Bhattacharya refused to relent.

The high court came down heavily against the state government throwing its plea out against handing over of the case to CBI (Rizwanur's family went to the high court asking for a CBI investigation). At last, rather reluctantly, bowing to public opinion and the court ruling, the CPM-led government removed the police commissioner and four other officers. However, the delay has caused immense damage to the credibility of the Left Front government and its police apparatus, and has decisively, yet again, dented the image of the chief minister, still battered and shaky after the Nandigram massacre, despite his relentless obsession with a 'chemical hub'.

Good cop, bad cop

In 2006, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya had said, "In the battle between good and evil, the evil forces won." The context was the elections to the post of Cricket Association of Bengal's (CAB) president. Bhattacharya had publicly endorsed the candidature of Prasun Mukherjee, the then incumbent police commissioner of Kolkata, with the avowed mission of ousting the then BCCI supremo Jagmohan Dalmiya. One year later, humbled by a high court ruling, the chief minister removed the police commissioner, and four other officers, from their posts.

The public outcry against them started the day Rizwanur's body was found on the railway track in the northern part of the city. His family suspected foul play. Prasun Mukherjee's name did not appear initially. But within a day or two, he called a press conference at the police headquarters and claimed that the death was a case of suicide, even before the post-mortem report was out.

When asked about his officers' role in intimidating Rizwanur at the behest of Ashok Todi, he defended his officers saying that even if the couple were adults, police ought to intervene if the marriage is socially and economically mismatched. Prasun Mukheree's utterances, which the people have rightly interpreted as basically a plea for siding with 'money power', created a furore and there were vociferous demands for his removal. Around that time, it was revealed, that Mukherjee was not merely defending his subordinates, it was at his instruction that top officers adopted a proactive role in favour of businessman Ashok Todi, father of Priyanka.

It was alleged that Ashok Todi approached Mukherjeee to break up his daughter's marriage to a man from a middle-class background and that too from a minority community. Later, PWD Minister Khiti Goswami and some others alleged that Todi had earlier contributed to Mukherjee's campaign fund when he contested the CAB elections. The police also confirmed that Todi's name was allegedly linked to a cricket betting racket.

Once they got the nod from the police commissioner, the officers acted in total disregard of the law. The Kolkata police have a Women's Grievance Cell which looks after such 'matrimonial matters' when complaints come from either the parents or the spouses. But, in this case, Ashok Todi's complaint was entertained by DC (HQ), another top official, and two junior officers from the 'Anti-Rowdy Section' who were reportedly asked to pursue it urgently. Earlier, DC (south) Javed Shamim had turned down requests from Todi to intercede on his behalf, as both Rizwanur and Priyanka were adults.  

Why was the chief minister defending the police commissioner against the public outcry? Why did he take such huge political risks by trying to defend him?

A cursory glance at his career graph will not give much of a clue. An IPS from 1973, Mukherjee has had the usual experience of working in districts and the city, in various branches of police administration. At different stages of his career, he held the posts of DC, Detective Department, Kolkata, DIG (CID) and IG (Enforcement Branch). Till he became City Police Commissioner in 2004, his career was more or less non-controversial.

That alone did not make him the right candidate for the much coveted post of the police commissioner. His detractors in the force point out that he was the secretary of the IPS Association for eight years. According to them, it was his networking ability within the police administration and outside that made him score, and eventually, saw him as the chief minister's candidate against Dalmiya in the CAB elections.

In West Bengal, the CPM-led Left Front government has always promoted 'loyalist' officers who are pliable and who would bend the law to please the ruling political establishment. Gyanwant Singh, DC (HQ), against whom accusing fingers have been raised for his alleged complicity in the Rizwanur case, is a case in point. In his earlier posting as SP, Murshidabad, he willingly played a proactive role in cornering the Congress MP Adhir Choudhury, which gladdened the CPM immensely. Mukherjee seemed more subtle and crafty. Besides, his interest in environment and sports, and his role as founder of the NGO, Nature Environment & Wildlife Society (NEWS), lends him an halo of an enlightened officer.

Mukherjee's career reached its pinnacle as he became Buddhadeb Bhattacharya's 'good force' in the fight against 'evil'. But Bhattacharya's fight against evil was restricted to the frivolous power game in the arena of cricket administration. Much to the chagrin of the civil society, the 'fighter against evil' did not do much about curbing the growing law and order problems in the city. Now, after the removal of the 'bad cops', the people are keen to see whether the erring officials will be put in the dock for their complicity in Rizwanur's death, if not directly, then at least for abetment to his 'suicide'.