Buses go off roads after cop thrashes conductor

Kolkata: In an instance of alleged police excess, a traffic sergeant was accused of assaulting a bus conductor. Videos of the incident were released on multiple social media platforms. The Joint Council of Bus Syndicate, along with bus owners and workers of the Tangra-Howrah minibus route — one of whose conductors was allegedly assaulted — held a protest meeting on Wednesday, demanding quick action. Sealdah Traffic Guard OC Rajat Kishan attended the meeting and accepted such skirmishes should be avoided. The bus unions, though, said they are seeking a meeting with the DCP in this regard.While several minibuses on the route stopped services in protest since Tuesday, partial normalcy returned to the route on Wednesday, with 22 of the 40 buses plying. The Sealdah Traffic Guard, whose officer was allegedly involved, said an investigation was initiated. "While it is clear that there was a confrontation between the sergeant and the conductor, the allegations of assault are still not clear from the footage we have analysed so far," said an officer.The incident was reported around 10.20 am on Tuesday when the minibus was headed to Howrah from Tangra. Opposite the Sealdah departmental store, the bus slowed down to pick up passengers. The police claimed this blocked traffic coming out of Sealdah station complex, as well as those coming from Beliaghata. This reportedly infuriated the sergeant on duty, who summoned the conductor. Though the video released is inconclusive, the conductor is seen nursing a swollen knee at the end of the encounter."The conductor, Sunil Thakur, has been attached to this route for the past 16 years. He was merely doing his job. If indeed traffic laws were broken, the sergeant could have detained the bus and prosecuted the driver. What was the need to assault our conductor? When we took the conductor to the doctor, the sergeant, Sovanlal Mukherjee, refused to apologise and said he was within his limits to do whatever he did," claimed Sandip Sengupta, the Tangra minibus route secretary.The incident led to a wave of protest with bus enthusiast groups, besides the bus union groups, sharing the footage. "We have held talks and decided to lodge a complaint with both Entally police station and the Sealdah traffic guard. We want a time-bound action," said Tapan Banerjee of the Joint Council of Bus Syndicate.Last month, Lalbazar had "closed" a cop from Bansdroni Police for allegedly slapping an app-bike driver who showed his bike documents on Digilocker instead of the hard copies. The Kolkata Police headquarters also launched another investigation aimed at ascertaining the role of two constables, now posted at Patuli Police Station, for allegedly misbehaving with a social media content creator who challenged one of the cops for not wearing a helmet.