Debashish Chakraborty of Kolkata Police may suffer permanent loss of vision in his left eye due to a brick attack during the ‘Nabanna Abhijaan’ on Tuesday, official sources said.
2015 batch Sergeant Debashish Chakraborty was one of the many cops deployed during the Nabanna Abhijan march to the state secretariat, held by the Paschim Banga Chhatra Samaj student group on August 27.
According to Kolkata police sources, the sergeant, Chakraborty, is in danger of losing sight in his left eye after being hit by stones thrown by protesters and is undergoing treatment at Shankar Nethralaya.
“During Nabanno Abhijaan he along with others was deployed for duty at 11 Furlong gate. They were redeployed to Strand Road and while the team was moving towards Strand Road via Kingsway (Eden Garden) a number of protesters including both female and male student protesters had thrown brickbats on police vehicles. In which of the vehicles he was sitting where a brick hit his left eye directly. His left eye has been severely traumatised,” police sources told ANI.
Three other police personnel who were in the car with him during the attack were also injured and are under treatment.
SGT Atanu Roy Chowdhary, SGT David Topno, and Home Guard Debasis Kundu were also injured. Debasish Kundu is also admitted to Fortis Hospital with eye and nose injuries.
“Tragic consequences emerged during Nabanno Abhiyaan called by students on Tuesday. He has suffered a devastating injury, losing permanent eyesight in his left eye. After surgery, doctors indicate that his vision cannot be restored,” they added.
On Tuesday, a protest march to West Bengal Secretariat ‘Nabanna’ was organised by the ‘Paschim Banga Chatra Samaj’ and other organisations, which aimed to protest the recent rape and murder of a woman trainee doctor in Kolkata.
The rally termed “Nabanna Abhijan” started from the College Square in the capital of West Bengal, amid heightened security around the West Bengal state secretariat with protestors gathering at the Santragachi area in Howrah.
Later, the police hosed protestors with water cannons as they climbed atop police barricades, clashed with police personnel and broke the barricades at Santragachi in Howrah during the protest march.
Protestors also dragged away police barricades and police resorted to opening lathi-charge and lobbying tear gas shells to disperse them.
All these came following the rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital premises, which sparked nationwide outrage and since then several protests have been staged demanding justice for the victim. The trainee doctor was found dead in the seminar hall on August 9.