Heartless Cops Shatter Family

KOLKATA: Her hollow, sunken eyes tella poignant tale. The life had long gone out of her eyes, now 50-year-old ChameliGhosh is speechless too. How will the policemen, who left her injured husband todie on BT Road on Wednesday, explain to her why they did not behave like humanbeings?Chameli's husband Nimai was thrown off a bike when it crashedinto a car that had been stopped in the middle of the road by an overzealousradio flying squad. As he lay bleeding, the policemen ran to their jeep andfled, rebuffing pleas to get Nimai to a hospital. The police team refused to usetheir wireless to call an ambulance or even help locals flag down a taxi, sayeyewitnesses.Nimai Ghosh an energetic, active man always lent ahelping hand to everyone in the locality. When he needed help the most, he waslet down by those who could have saved his life.Nimai's friendSwapan Khatua, who was riding the bike, suffered only minor bruises, but isseverely traumatized. He spend the last night in a feverish trance, when hewould suddenly shiver violently and wake up screaming there's Nimai's blood allover his body. "The feeling of guilt is tearing me to pieces. Buttell me, who was responsible for his death? Had Nimai-da received treatmentquickly, he could have survived. If only those golden minutes had not beenlost," Khatua told TOI at his home on Gopal Lal Thakur Road, barely 1.5km fromthe accident spot.Nimai's family cannot believe that a group ofpolicemen could behave in such an "inhuman manner". "Only the other day, we readabout a policeman who took an injured woman from one hospital to another fortreatment. It felt so good. But when it came to my brother, police reacted theopposite way," the victim's youngest brother, Subhankar, said."Perhaps such happy tales happen only when you read them over cupsof tea, but they seem unreal to us. I can't figure out how police could see himwrithing in pain and still not help him. Any human being would!"Inthe Ghosh household, Chameli gropes through the dark alleys of her worldstumbling and faltering. She is helpless without her husband's hand. EvenNimai's 84-year-old father, Madhab Chandra Ghosh, looks here and there almosthoping to see him walk across the threshold.Subhankar said: "Mybrother was the main support emotionally and financially for the entire family.He was our binding force." Nimai, an electrical engineer, ran a shop withbrother Gauranga, who was handicapped in an accident four yearsago.Recalling the accident, Khatua said: "We were both wearinghelmets and riding at normal speed. I saw a white Ambassador from the corner ofmy eye when its door suddenly swung open. I did not even have a split second toreact. The next thing I can recall is that I was thrown off the bike and hit theroad hard." The duo was returning from Cossipore police station where they hadgone to lodge a complaint about an acquaintance losing a bank passbook."I turned and saw Nimai-da bleeding profusely from the mouth. Hiselbow was split open. I heard local people rush in. I jumped up and started tolift him, screaming at the man who opened the door. Nimai-da was screaming andwrithing in excruciating pain. Some of the locals pleaded with police to takehim in their vehicle but in vain. Moments later I saw the police vehicle speedaway. We tried to put him in the Ambassador but its driver had fledtoo."It took some time to get a taxi as no driver was ready to takehim to the hospital on seeing so much of blood. "But such a situation would nothave arisen in the first place if police had taken him in their vehicle orarranged for an ambulance," Khatuasaid.