Christmas revelers beat up home guard

KOLKATA: A group of young Christmas revelers dragged a Kolkata Police home guard personnel out of a bus and assaulted him brutally with bricks and bamboos after he protested against their misbehavior. Two of the youths have been arrested while the remaining four are absconding. The home guard personnel received treatment at the Chittaranjan National Medical College & Hospital.
Biswanath Sardar, who lives at Ramkrishnapur in South 24-Parganas is posted at the Pragati Maidan police station on Eastern Metropolitan Bypass.Around 2.45 pm on Monday, he got off a local train at the Park Circus station and boarded a state bus of the C-23 route. The bus was relatively empty and he took a seat in the rear. Six youths also boarded the bus at Park Circus and started moving around clicking selfies.
“According to what Sardar told us, the youths began climbing up on the seats to click selfies in various poses, disturbing other passengers. They were also foul-mouthed and shouting among themselves. Sardar protested when the driver applied brakes and one of the youths fell on him. The youths started slapping him and then forced the driver to stop. They then dragged the home guard personnel out and pushed him to the ground before assaulting him with whatever they could lay their hands on. Finally, locals intervened and alerted a police sergeant. When more policemen arrived, the youths attempted to flee but Akhtar Alam (19) and Md Irfan (22) were nabbed,” a police officer from the Topsia police station said.
Initially, the police were not aware of Sardar’s identity as he was not in uniform. He was granted leave later after being treated at the hospital. On questioning the youths, it came to be known that they were on their way to Eco Park when the incident occurred. The two have been charged with attempt to murder and committing a crime with common intention. A search is on for the other four.
“The two were produced in court on Tuesday and remanded to judicial custody. Sardar was lucky to have escaped without serious injuries as the youths actually rained blows on him. Probably his fitness came to his aid. However, he will still require a lot of rest and is under the care of a private physician. We are also shocked at the reaction of people, both on the bus and the street, who allowed a person to be thrashed in this manner,” the officer added.