Bengal: Left Worker Wounded In Police Caning, Dies In Hospital

A Left worker who was wounded in a police lathi charge during their Nabanna Abhiyan protest rally last week has died in a hospital on Monday morning. 

Maidual Islam Middya, who hailed from Bankura district in the south-western part of the state, was injured on February 12 when Left student and youth activists took out a march to the state secretariat of Nabanna to protest the lack of employment generation opportunities during Mamata Banerjee's regime. 

The police had resorted to lathi-charge at several places to disperse the gathering when they tried to remove the barricades. 

Several agitators, including Middya, had suffered bleeding injuries. 

Middya had been taken to a hospital from the spot.

On Sunday evening, after his conditions deteriorated, he was shifted to another private healthcare facility where he died. 

While the cause of death remained unknown at the time of filing this report, Left parties have alleged he died of the injuries he suffered during the caning by the police. 

"He died on police brutalities," said Srijan Bhattacharya, the state unit president of Students' Federation of India (SFI), the student wing of the CPI(M). 

CPI(M) state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra and veteran Congress leader Abdul Mannan, the Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, have also alleged that Middya died of injuries suffered during the lathi-charge. 

There is no response from the police or the ruling party, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) yet. The police said a post-mortem examination will be conducted to ascertain the cause of death. The process will be video recorded.  

Left workers are likely to stage protests against this death.  

An auto-rickshaw driver by profession, Middya was a member of Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth wing of the CPI(M). 

He is survived by his mother, wife, and two minor daughters.