“30 students entered Souradeep Sengupta’s residence and created ruckus,” says relative

Late last evening, guest lecturer at Gurcharan College Silchar – Souradeep Sengupta was arrested by Cachar Police from his residence in Itkhola, Silchar. He has been charged under 295A, 153A, 507IPC, 66 IT ACT for posting content on Facebook which a section of people found derogatory towards a particular community. An FIR was filed by a Gurucharan College student at Silchar Sadar Police Station and on the basis of that the Police said that they had arrested Souradeep Sengupta.

The students staged a demonstration today at the College premises and submitted a memorandum to the Principal demanding his immediate termination. He was scheduled to take a class at 9:45 AM on Friday, however, he communicated it to the students that he won’t make it to the College and thus the class stands dismissed. “The Principal called him and his family and said there is pressure on him to take action against Souradeep for his posts on Social Media. Souradeep offered to resign,” informed a family member.

The family member said that they were not even informed about the FIR and therefore they had no time to take legal help or discuss the issue with their lawyer. Souradeep Sengupta did his schooling in Silchar and Higher Secondary from Ramanuj Gupta Junior College. After that, he moved to Presidency College in Kolkata to pursue BSc and did his MSc from Delhi University in the national capital. “Now he is preparing for his PhD and in the meantime teaching as a visiting faculty at Gurucharan College, Silchar. We believe he was intentionally targetted by a group of students,” added Choudhury.

The family member believes that after Souradeep Sengupta deleted the posts and issued an apology, it was all over. “A a mob of 50 abusive young students  surrounded the house in the evening. A while later, around 30 students entered the residence and created a ruckus. They looked around and started shouting at his parents. They asked his mother what kind of upbringing have you given to your child that he grew up to post all this nonsense on Facebook. Another boy said not a single image of any God or Goddesses in the whole house, you all cannot be called Hindus at any cost. The family members kept apologizing as they wanted to settle it out of the court,” said the family member while speaking with Barak Bulletin.

The person added, “When the parents requested to settle it all, they demanded that Souradeep must go live on Facebook and apologise for his posts. Souradeep was not at his home but when his mother called he went back to his residence and that is when Police officials arrested him and took him to Silchar Sadar Police station. He is still there and we will appeal for a bail tomorrow.”

Souradeep Sengupta’s post that created the controversy read, “The BJP and RSS are trying to recreate Godhra in Delhi right now. People on the street are getting their IDs checked to see if they are Muslim – if they are, they are getting beaten mercilessly. Hindu houses are being marked by saffron flags, while Muslim houses and mosques are being petrol-bombed. All while these terrorists shout Jai Shree Ram. Sanatan Dharma my foot. We elected a mass murderer twice as PM – this is what we get. Everyone who voted for BJP should know they sold the country off for a few bucks.”

In another such controversial post, a screenshot of which was attached with the FIR he wrote, “Hindutva is a Cancer. Wake up, people.”

However, Sengupta deleted all such posts and apologised publically by posting, “I apologise for any religious sentiments I may have hurt by my posts. I made some irresponsible comments about a communally sensitive issue. It was a lapse of judgment. My intention was not to insult any religion at large.”

The family members believe that the issue is being dragged out of proportion as in India, all have the right to free speech and expression

Updated: While the family member named a person and alleged that he played a vital role, later she corrected the statement and removed the name of the person. The same has been updated in the story. Also, while the family member spoke on record, she later requested us to remove her name from the story for security reasons.