Bengal DYFI member injured during march to Secretariat dies

Senior leaders of the Left parties alleged that Maidul Islam Mriddha died of the injuries sustained during police action on February 11

Leftist activists disperse as police baton charge during a protest against different policies of the Trinamool Congress-led State and Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government, in Kolkata on February 11, 2021.

A 31-year-old member of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth wing of Communist party of India (Marxist), who had sustained injuries during the march to the State Secretariat in Kolkata on February 11, died on Monday morning at a health facility in the city.

Senior leaders of the Left parties alleged that Maidul Islam Mriddha, a resident of Bankura district, died of the injuries sustained during police action on February 11. The Kolkata police has registered a case of unnatural death and the body has been sent for post-mortem. Senior police officials said that the death would be investigated.

CPI(M) leader Fuad Halim said that the DYFI member’s condition started deteriorating on February 13 and the reason for the death could be “kidney failure following excessive assault on muscles”.

Dr. Halim, in whose clinic the Left supporter was admitted on February 11, said that there was “little doubt that he died because of the injuries sustained in police action”. A number of Left supporters had gathered outside the State-run facility where the post-mortem was being conducted. The DYFI leadership plans to take the body to the party office after the legal procedures are completed.

Leader of the Left Legislature Party in the Assembly and CPI(M) MLA Sujan Chakraborty said that youth was the only earning member of his family. “Maidul Islam Mriddha hails from a village in Bankura’s Katulpur. His only fault was that he participated in a democratic movement. Hundreds of students were injured in the police action,” Mr. Chakraborty said.

Leader of Opposition and Congress MLA Abdul Mannan also condoled the death and said that it was unfortunate that a youth had to die because he participated in a democratic movement demanding job. Youth and student wings of the Left parties had participated in a march to the State Secretariat on February 11. Violence broke out when the supporters tried to breach a barricade. Police had resorted to use of force, fired tear gas shells, used water cannons and resorted to baton charge, leaving several Left supporters injured.