September 30, 2011
Second UAPA prisoner “killed” in jail custody
by Ranjit Sur
Ranjit Murmu was a Prisoner of Conscience in West Bengal’s Medinipur jail in connection with the Lalgarh PS case no. 161 dated 26th September 2009. He was booked under UAPA along with Chatradhar Mahato and five others. The date shows that he was arrested during the peak hours of Lalgarh uprising in the year 2009 i.e during the previous Left Front regime under Budhadeb Bhattacharya. After the installation of the new Mamata Banerjee government, the democratic people of Bengal raised alarm for his release along with other political prisoners. But the Mamata Banerjee government released him not only from the jail, but also from this material world by killing him without proper treatment during his illness in the jail custody. What was the nature of his illness? His family members i.e his wife and daughter informed that he had no serious ailment before his arrest. No jail official of Medinipur or Alipur ever informed them of his suffering from any serious illness. But NRS Hospital authority and Entally PS informed APDR, on inquiry, that Ranjit Murmu was suffering from serious kidney problems and he died of kidney failure. He had a history of malaria, they informed, during his prison days. All these informations were supplied verbally. No written communication from any quarter was received by his family even after 48 hours of his death.
So far the information gathered by APDR is as follows : Ranjit Murmu (55), son of late Vutu Murmu, is survived by his wife and daughter. He was a resident of Sejua area under Lalgarh PS. He was arrested on 26th Sept 2009. Medinipur jail authority sent him to Alipur jail for treatment . But no one supplied the date of his transfer to Alipur . Alipur jail authority got him admitted at SSKM Hospital on 5th Sept 2011. SSKM discharged him on 16.09.11. Again he was admitted at Bangur Institute of Neurology on 24th September. Bangur Hospital referred him to Chittaranjan Hospital that very day. Chittaranjan Hospital sent him to NRS where he died on 25th Sept at 6.50 am. None of the jail authorities or hospital authorities even bothered to inform his family members regarding his deteriorating health conditions. Only on 27th Sept they got verbal information of his death through Lalgarh PS. The family finally got delivery of the decomposed body of their dear one on 29th September evening with the help of APDR activists.
APDR bid farewell to a friend with tears - a friend who fought for democracy and honour during a small procession on the streets of Kolkata on that evening.
Ranjit Murmu is the second UAPA prisoner to die in a Kolkata jail, the first being Swapan Dasgupta, editor of Peoples March ( Bengali). Swapan was killed by the Budhadeb Bhattacharya government without giving him proper treatment. The new Mamata Banerjee government did the same thing to Ranjit Murmu. But the most alarming thing of the whole story is that Ranjit Murmu may not be the last one . Hundreds of political prisoners are living in inhuman conditions in Bengal jails. Many of them are charged under UAPA. Many of the prisoners are already attacked by one or more serious diseases because of torture and long stay in inhuman jail conditions. None of them is getting proper treatment and anyone can die any moment. Mamatadidi gave VVIP treatment to serial killer CPM leader Susanta Ghosh and kept him in ICU of SSKM whereas she is killing without treatment those many others for whose fight she is now in Chief Minister’s Chair.
The unsung death of Ranjit Murmu rings the alarm bell for all rights activists and democratic people. If we really want to save the precious lives of Political Prisoners languishing in Bengal jails, we should make the bell louder and shriller so that it become intolerable to the rulers.
( Prepared with aditional inputs from Prasanta Halder of APDR)
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