Cops beat up HIV positive activists

BARASAT: Two HIV positive activists were beaten up by the bodyguards of the North 24-Parganas district magistrate for putting up awareness posters near his bungalow in Barasat in North 24-Parganas district on Monday afternoon. The victims say DM Sanjay Bansal was sitting in his car a few metres away when the assault happened but he denies this.
The two had to be hospitalized for their injuries but the police seemed to be going slow in the case.Till late Monday, officers refused to answer on what charges the accused policemen had been booked, if at all. Sources say two accused cops have been taken off guard duty on the initiative of the DM.
The victims are members of the Peoples Network for HIV-Positive, which is holding its statewide convention at Kolkata’s Esplanade on April 20. They were pasting posters for the rally on a lamppost outside the DM’s bungalow when Bansal’s car rolled in around 1.30pm.
“Two of the bodyguards got out of the car and started threatening us. They shoved us around and tried to tear off the posters. When we protested, they started kicking and punching us. They beat us with lathis. We were bleeding profusely,” one of the victims told TOI from his hospital bed.
The organization’s district president, Samir Biswas, said: “The two sustained multiple injuries and our members admitted them to hospital. We filed a complaint at the Barasat police station, but we don’t know the names of the security guards. We hope the police can identify them and arrest them.”
Bansal claimed that he was “not aware” of the incident and came to know of it after the complaint was lodged. He promised a fair probe but added that there was a restriction on putting up posters or defacing government property around the DM’s bungalow.
According to sources, a departmental enquiry has been started against the two security guards and they have been withdrawn from the DM’s protection detail.