On 7th February, at 5 pm, a protest meeting was organized by various organizations and platforms including AISA - AIPWA - Ekushey Dak - APDR at Kamalgazi intersection, within the jurisdiction of Narendrapur police station under Baruipur District Police, near Garia.

Saradindu Uddipan, a dalit political activist, had recently posted a post on Facebook about the practice of secularism in educational institutions. The sole purpose of the meeting was to protest against the arrest and harassment of Sharadindu Uddipan for this post and to assert the fundamental constitutional right to express one's opinion.

In the evening, between 5.30-6.30 pm, almost as soon as the meeting started,  a plainclothes policeman from the Narendrapur thana caught AISA Jadavpur University Unit comrade Rudra Prabhakar Das by the hair and began to thrash him as soon as began broadcasting the meeting live on Facebook. CPIML Liberation West Bengal State Committee member Comrade Chandrasmita went to his rescue, and the police dragged her off to the Narendrapur thana as well. The police detained 6 protesters including Comrades Rudra and Chandrasmita, and JU student Akash Gupta. They threatened to “ruin the careers” of Rudra and Akash. Comrade Chandrasmita’s requests for a sanitary pad were not heeded.   

As evening turned to night, students and activists of social and mass movements gathered in front of the police station demanding release of their comrades. After some time had elapsed, when it seemed the arrested comrades were being released on private bonds, the students of Jadavpur chanted slogans to greet them in solidarity. As soon as the slogans were raised, the police unleashed barbaric violence on the comrades.

Activists were pushed in front of moving vehicles and beaten up with batons, and even pushed to the ground and kicked with the police boots. Alongside this physical violence, the police also started a barrage of verbal abuse against our comrades for raising the slogan ‘red salute’. When police caught Comrade Malay by the hair and began to kick his head in, Comrade Chandrasmita rushed to help him. As she testifies in a letter to state human rights commission, police dragged her too by the hair to the thana, where they threatened to rape her and kicked her in the stomach, adding to the severe cramps and bleeding she was experiencing due to menstruation. Two of the police personnel repeatedly referred to the women including Chandrasmita, Soumi Jana and Barsha as “sluts”, and they were kicked and beaten in the chest, abdomen and groin. Soumi, in her complaint to the SHRC, writes, “Under the Supervision of the Inspector-in-Charge of Narendrapur Police Station Mr. Anirban Biswas, and the second officer, Inspector Mr. Sushovan Sarkar (Mejobabu) instructed his fellow male officers to kick Barsha, one of my friends and me on our intimate parts.” Chandrasmita added that one police officer kept raising his shirt to point at his crotch, saying “I’ll show you” – this was an unmistakeable rape threat. When Malay objected, they threatened to shoot him dead. Soumi added that “a female officer, namely Ms. Neha, repeatedly kicked me on my breast, abdomen, thighs, groin and back.”

 11 comrades were arrested again. When they were taken to the hospital for medical check-up, the doctor issued a “fit” certificate without even examining the arrested persons who had so many injuries. When the arrested persons questioned the doctor’s conduct, the police threatened to kill them summarily on the spot. CPIML State Committee members comrades Malay and Chandrasmita were released on bail bond that night, but only after photos and videos were forcibly deleted from their phones. The rest were kept inside the lockup overnight and the remaining 9 students were subjected to unspeakable threats and beatings.  

Police brought the arrested accomplices to Baruipur court the next day. The comrades were brought to the Baruipur court with ropes tied around their waists. The bail application of all the comrades was rejected on the basis of false allegations made by the police. Baruipur court gave the police one day to file a case. The next day, Wednesday, at 4 pm, Comrade Barsha and Soumi were granted bail. On the same day, the student community of Jadavpur University took to the streets demanding the unconditional release of the remaining comrades.   #RELEASEJU9 was the key slogan, and the procession started from Gate No. 4 of Jadavpur University, and the procession ended at Jadavpur 6B through Jadavpur Thana. At the end of the procession, the 8B premises were blocked for about 2 hours.  The effigy of Chief Minister and Police Minister Mamata Banerjee was burnt in protest of such heinous behaviour of the police towards the students and indiscriminate attacks. Police once again unleashed violence on the protest. Unconscious after being beaten by the police, AISA West Bengal State Committee member Comrade Triyasha was admitted to the hospital. After Comrade Barsha and Saumi were released from the Alipore Women's Correctional Institution at 11 am on Thursday, the students decided to move towards a larger movement demanding unconditional release of the remaining students.

The police officers’ remarks showed that their viciousness was motivated by their prejudices towards Jadavpur University students, whom they saw as leftists and hence “troublemakers”. Such conduct including the horrific sexual violence and rape threats can be compared to the Delhi Police’s conduct towards students of JNU, Jamia and Delhi University. The Chief Minister herself is police minister – she cannot claim the mantle of defending democracy from the BJP regime, when the police force answerable to her indulges in such lawless and unconstitutional conduct.