The death of a Bengal student activist and its political ripples

The death of a young student activist, who was critical of the Mamata Banerjee government, has sparked off massive protests in a State that is accustomed to political violence. Shiv Sahay Singh reports on the incident and its aftermath, which has rattled the Trinamool Congress government 

Thirteen hours before he died, Anish Khan put out a post on Facebook. It was a photograph of two women on a scooter — the driver wearing a headscarf and the pillion rider holding a small idol of Ganesha. “This is what keeps India together, Please do not kill it for a few votes,” he wrote.

In the early hours of February 19, Anish, a slim 28-year-old MBA graduate from Aliah University in Kolkata, who had recently enrolled for a journalism course at Kalyani University, allegedly fell to his death. From the accounts of his friends and neighbours, and his social media posts, Anish was politically active, a champion of justice, and always brimming with hope. He was popular among the Left students’ unions in Kolkata. He was associated with the Students’ Federation of India in the past, and often led rallies on various issues including the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). In his village Dakhinkhanpara, in Howrah district, Anish was sought after at every social and community programme for his oratory skills. He never hesitated to air his views on social media. “You are human, I am human too, and the only difference is having a spine!” he had posted less than two weeks before his death.

While West Bengal is no stranger to political violence, Anish’s unnatural demise has sparked massive protests across the State and rattled the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government. Soon after the news broke, students blocked roads at important arterial intersections and broke police barricades. By that evening, they had stopped traffic at the famous Park Circus crossing.

Calling for “immediate identification and punishment of the perpetrators of this heinous crime”, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) tweeted that “a strong critique of the Mamata Banerjee government” had been “killed at his residence”. A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA blamed the police for the incident. Mamata Banerjee announced that the State government would conduct an impartial investigation and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was set up under the Chief Secretary. Reacting to statements about Anish being punished for attacking her government, she claimed that he was one of her own. “I was in touch with Anish,” she said, “and he had helped us during the elections”.

Anish’s house in Dakhinkhanpara has been under construction for over five years. It has only a few windows and no railings. The bricks haven’t even received the first plaster of cement. The place from where Anish allegedly fell has a large opening demarcated for a window. Clothes have been hung out to dry. Villagers, journalists and investigators have climbed up the 23 stairs to the second floor nearly every day to look at the spot where the young man last stood. There is nothing to indicate that this is a crime scene, barring a small arrow mark on a brick to point to the spot from where he allegedly fell.

Anish’s father Salem Khan recalled the events of that fateful night. There was a knock on the door a little past midnight. Four persons, who said they were from the Amta police station, forced their way into the house, he said. Three of them were dressed as civic police volunteers and the fourth, a home guard, was dressed in khaki and holding a firearm.

The policemen told Salem that there was a police case against Anish. One of them put a gun to Salem’s head, while the other three ran up the stairs. Within minutes, they were back downstairs. “Job done, Sir,” they said briskly, and left. In a cold sweat, Salem rushed up to find his son lying motionless on the ground below in the dark of the night. He picked Anish up and rushed him to a nearby hospital. It was around 1.10 a.m. Just minutes earlier, at 1.03 a.m., Anish had posted on Facebook about a police officer in Shimla being arrested for alleged terror links.