WHY THE CENTER NEEDS TO LISTEN TO #‎justiceforsaurabh

Saurabh, A production engineering student from 2004-2008 batch of BIT Sindri, working as a deputy chief material engineer in Kharagpur Railway dies under grave mysterious circumstances on 22^nd September 2015. The body of the deceased was found to be in ruins; in an unrecognizable state of blue and black. I am attaching the link of the state of the body of Saurabh when it was discovered by the local West Bengal police. The police initially refused to lodge a FIR because they assumed he died of poisoning. This theory seems quite convincing as the first impression of the deceased body clearly suggests heavy poisoning. Nevertheless, following are some facts about which the local police were either a) completely clueless or b) intentionally choose to be clueless.  
     1.     The cell phone of Saurabh was missing. It will come as a surprise to anyone with perfect senses that  his cell phone was missing especially when his body was discovered in his own room. 

     2.  It is also very hard to imagine that if Saurabh was bitten by a snake, he didn’t tell anybody or choose not go to any hospital. Either Saurabh was too innocent to take a snake bite seriously or he was a complete absent minded person. Those who knew Saurabh will agree to none. Saurabh was a graduate from a premier college of India and it’s simply impossible for him to commit such a mistake. 

     3.  The police have been failed to track the call records of the lost cell phone. The family alleges that the local mafia was unhappy with Saurabh as he was an honest officer. They were threatening him. The call records of his phone would have been sufficient to establish this fact. 

      4.     The police failed to provide a genuine autopsy report. The doctor stated that due brain damage of deceased they can’t tell the exact reason of death. At this stage, I am not completely aware about the details of the government hospital to which Saurabh dead body was taken and what were the exact findings in his autopsy report. However, Saurabh’s family is not satisfied with the explanations provided by the hospital. They also claimed everything happened in a hush-hush manner. I would not go to the extent of saying that the doctors tried to subdue the case or they were incompetent. However, both the local police and the hospital failed to provide a satisfactory reason of death to Saurabh’s family.

All these misgivings are more than enough to suggest that it’s not just a simple case of snake biting as the West Bengal police are suggesting. After a 10 days of protest by the family, friends and mediapressure, they were compelled to lodge a FIR. However, a fair inquiry in this case seems fairly impossible as

•  The police are so much engrossed by the theory of snake biting that they are unwilling to expand the purview of investigation in any further direction.
• The small railway stations and such places have been a heaven for Mafias and such similar people. They have a very wide nexus of decades and the law of the land is still decided by such mafias and goons. It’s not very hard to imagine and understand that why police is finding it very difficult even to trace the records of cell phone of Saurabh.

In this moment of uncertainty, the college friends of Saurabh are finding it difficult to bear the loss of a dear friend. This pain is turning into anger after the callous behavior of west Bengal police. The media both newspaper and leading news channel have raised this issue; yet, so far nothing has been done. This sense of injustice has pushed the college Alumni and his friends to launch protest at various parts of country including in the places like Jantar Mantar in Delhi, Freedom Park in Bangalore, Marina Beach Chennai, City Center Kolkata, Bokaro(Jharkhand), BIT sindri(Jharkhand), Patna(Bihar) on 11^th October 2015.  Some prominent people from different walks of life have also joined in to raise this issue at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. Professor Anand Kumar and Ajit Jha of Swaraj Abhiyan have come forward to lead the protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on 11^th October. While Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhusan and LJP Chief Paswan have condemned this act and demanded a fair inquiry into this case.
It is also important to understand that now it’s not just about Saurabh. Every alumni of BIT Sindri now believes that if yesterday it was Saurabh; tomorrow the same can happen to them. If a fair probe was denied to him then it means a fair probe will be denied to them. It will not take much time for this outrage to be shared not merely by students or Alumni of one college but of many colleges. The protest is getting support from large section of people and its facebook page has reached more than 4000 likes and shares in such a short span of time.The demands of the supporters of this movement are getting more specific now. They are not asking for any condolence or any financial assistance from the government. In this vague air of mistrust between Saurabh sympathizers and West Bengal police, they are demanding for a CBI probe.

At this point, I believe I am unable see the demand of CBI probe getting accepted by the Central Government of India, however the government should come out with something very convincing like giving the supervision of this inquiry under someone whose integrity is unquestionable. I believe the government should not remain a mere spectator anymore and do something credible to restore the trust among engineers of our country. It might also be possible that the voice of #JusticeForSaurabh may die in a month or so but who knows when next time an onsite opportunity come, this incident will come to the mind of an Indian engineer before he makes his final decision.

Vivek Agrawal
IT 2k8-2K12
BIT Sindri, Jharkhand

NOTE: As a member of leading the protest for #JusticeForSaurabh my views may be biased. However, the facts remain the same.