Cancer patient beaten up for liquor protest

BARASAT: A 72-year old cancer patient was brutally battered by a gang of drunken youths at his doorstep in Barasat, a place that has witnessed several such attacks and deaths in the last four years.
Prostrate cancer patient Suranjan Chowdhury is the latest addition to the list that includes Madhyamik examinee Rajiv Das, who was killed trying to protect his sister from molesters in 2011, and anti-hooch crusader Sourav Chowdhury, who was dragged away from outside his home and murdered last July.
At 11pm on Sunday, Chowdhury came out to protest when six to seven youths who were drinking outside his house in Nawpara got into brawl. But the youths pounced on the senior citizen and started beating him up. Chowdhury had to be hospitalized with serious injuries and his family is under threat. Police rounded up two youths on the basis of the family’s complaint, but released them later.
“The gang had assembled near a ditch behind our house since evening. Later, outsiders joined them and they started abusing each other at the top of their voices. This has become regular affair in our locality. My father couldn’t take it anymore. He asked my brother to stop them. My brother went out and pleaded with them citing my father’s illness. They didn’t pay heed. The chaos reached such a level that my father stepped out despite his failing health. One of them shoved him and as he fell the others punched and kicked him in the belly. My brother ran out to rescue him and was also badly beaten,” said Chowdhury’s eldest son Ananda.
The incident once again rattled residents, reviving memories of Rajiv Das and Sourav Chowdhury’s deaths. “Barasat has become a criminal hub. Anti-socials rule the roost here. So many people have paid a heavy price by raising their voice. The place has become the capital of molestation, eve teasing and anti-social activities,” a local said.