Arup Bhandari, who was hospitalized five days ago after being beaten up by a group of youngsters for asking them to stop teasing women, was died in Howrah, 10 km from Kolkata. The 24-year old reportedly lost his life after fighting with fatality for five days.

A few days ago, while Arup was taking an idol of Goddess Saraswati for immersion in the Hooghly River on the occasion of a local festival, he saw some bystanders passing lewd comments at the women and sexually harassing them. Arup and his friend asked them to stop.

However, the group of eve teasers hit relentlessly on Arup’s head with iron rods on his way back home, late at night. Mr Bhandari was taken to hospital with severe head injuries and went into a coma. His family has filed a police case, but so far, no arrests have been made. Relatives claim that the police initially refused to accept their complaint, and that it was only after locals surrounded the police station in protest that they registered an FIR or First Information Report.

(Manohar)