: In March this year, 17-year-old Atanu Mandal went missing in Krishnanagar in Nadia district after his father Anil Mandal asked him to buy medicines. Three days later, Atanu’s body was found floating in a pond and his post-mortem suggested he was strangulated.
“I received a ransom call from my son’s mobile phone. The kidnappers had demanded Rs. 12 lakh which I was willing to pay. I never got another call after that, and two days later my son’s body was recovered,” Mr. Mandal said here on Saturday at a public meeting organised by Akranto Amra (We, the victims), a group organised by victims of human rights violations.
The committee is spearheaded by Ambikesh Mahapatra, who was arrested for circulating a cartoon of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The committee held a sit-in at Esplanade, in the city centre.
Attack against democracy“We will be submitting a memorandum to Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi later in the day, condemning State-wide attacks against democracy and widespread violence,” said Professor
Mahapatra.
“The post-mortem revealed that my son was brutally tortured before he was killed. The police were not interested in probing the case from the beginning and had not even filed a charge sheet 90 days after my son’s body was found,” Mr. Mandal said.
Writ petitionMr. Mandal had filed a writ petition in the Calcutta High Court. The police are yet to come up with leads in Atanu’s death case, he said.
Taking part in the demonstration, Ashok Bandyopadhyay, relative of author Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay, said the entire State was being attacked and not just a few persons.
