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Man who gave the poor a voice, now silenced-Arshad Ali
-The Indian Express

In 2000, when Sutia village of West Bengal was virtually ruled by alleged rapists, a young schoolteacher stood up to them, starting a movement that helped villagers overcome their fear.

Villagers say the gangsters, primarily extortionists, had punished a number of reluctant donors by gang-raping the women of their homes, often in front of the rest of the family. The fear this created had stamped out any hopes of resistance.

Barun Biswas, who taught at Kolkata’s Metropolitan Institute, then helped set up a platform that encouraged people to speak out, eventually taking the matter to the police for the first time. Barun, 40, was murdered last week. The leader of the gang, now serving a life sentence, is suspected to have masterminded the revenge killing from jail.

The movement was very much in character for Barun, whom villagers of Sutia and its neighbourhood remember as a man who always stood up not only for the poor, helping them in need, but also the wronged, resisting their oppressors.

Once, says his uncle Atul Chandra Biswas, an elderly woman visited Barun and said she had never slept on a bed and wanted to try doing so. “Barun asked her to sit on the porch, offered her some biscuits and meanwhile called a rickshaw van. He packed in the bed, paid the fare and had it delivered at the woman’s house,” Atul Biswas said. “That night, Barun himself slept on newspapers spread on the floor.”

Barun came from a poor family himself, one that had migrated from Bangladesh to Acharipara, Panchpota, in North 24-Parganas. With his parents, two brothers and two sisters, Barun stayed at his maternal uncle’s home. They were so poor that they could not even afford slippers to wear to school. “The siblings would tie the hard, boat-shaped covering of betel nuts to their feet,” said Atul Biswas, who is a paternal uncle.

In time, all the brothers would find good jobs. Barun, however, held off plans to get him married because he didn’t want that to come in the way of his causes, says one of his brothers, the elder Asit. “We asked him several times but he refused,” says Asit Biswas.

Barun passed out of Khatra Boys High School, graduated with honours in Bengali from Gobardanga College, and got a Masters from Calcutta University and then a B Ed from New Barrackpore. He joined Kolkata’s Metropolitan Institution as a Bengali teacher in 1998, serving there till his death.

He was 28 when he launched the movement against the rapist-extortionists. He was the secretary of the platform he helped launch, Sutia Gonodhorshon Pratibad Mancha. Its members, initially a handful, went door to door with other members and motivated people to speak up, says Nani Charan Poddar, its president.

“It was not an easy job. There were only seven of us who dared to speak out but we were sure we would eventually win over others who till then were afraid to support us actively,” says Poddar. Results srated to show from 2002, when a case was filed for the first time. Later, a court gave its verdict, sentencing prime accused Sushanta Choudhury to life.

One of Choudhury’s aides has been arrested for murdering Barun and he has reportedly confessed that the order came from the gang leader in Dum Dum Central Jail. Subhankar Biswas, alias Fotke, has told the police that Sushanta had sent for him, after which he got in touch with contract killers.

The men who would kill Barun surveyed his movements for a few days. On July 5, the schoolteacher stepped out of a train at Gobardanga station at 7.20pm. As he was walking towards the lot where he had parked his motorcycle, he was shot from behind, allegedly by hired killer Sumanta Debnath.

Barun was trained in the martial arts, says Poddar, suggesting that he might have tried to defend himself — despite the gun — had the killers confronted him.

The Habra, Gaighata and Gopal Nagar police arrested five men, including Fotke, in a joint operation. The alleged gunman, Sumanta Debnath, is a Class XI student at Nahata Higher Secondary School. Debashish Sarkar and Bishwajit Biswas too are students, at Nahata College. The fifth man is called Raju Sarkar. Police were led to the five by Bhim Biswas, a close aide of Sushanta Chowdhury and arrested earlier.

Police are, however, exploring the possibility of motives other than the movement against the Sutia gang. Barun had made many enemies with the various causes he had taken up.

Barun’s parents Jagadish and Geeta Biswas say they hope the movement he started would be carried forward. “He lived for others, always giving priority to others’ needs over his own. We would like to see others carry on the legacy,” his father said.

Top police officers have visited Barun’s home. Trinamool Congress leaders including Mukul Roy plan to do so soon.