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Opinion
A Road for Prof Papiya Ghosh
by
Dr. Amitabh Mitra
Professor
Papiya Ghosh, the noted historian was murdered brutally on 3rd December
2006 at her home in the posh Patliputra Colony, Patna. Her seventy years
old maid also received the same fate. Four men were arrested and the
goods stolen from Papiya's house have reportedly been found.
"The robbery was committed by local boys. Some are yet to be caught. We
are positive we will catch them soon. Papiya's car, TV, music system,
computer has been recovered," said Kundan Krishna, Sr SP, Patna.
It is a well known fact that the police were never keen in opening a FIR
in the beginning, considering the possible involvement of a local
politician / land mafia goon who has been harassing her to sell her
house. A few months back there was also an attempt to abduct her while
she was coming back from the university. There has been a deliberate
attempt to mask this case and make the issue as a petty case of theft.
The Government of Nitish Kumar came into action only after unhappiness
was conveyed to him by the Hon. Prime Minister Shree Manmohan Singh.
Papiya’s sister Tuktuk Ghosh an IAS officer from West Bengal Cadre, had
to request Shree Manmohan Singh to expose the conspiracy behind the
murder.
Papiya Ghosh was a woman of determination and high moral values. A
Historian of international repute, she was an authority on Dalits and
Muslims in Bihar. It seems that there had been an argument with her
killers after which she was murdered. The murder done at the heat of the
moment was not preplanned. It was later made to look like a theft.
The police now accept that the robbery is by “someone known” to be the
motive of the crime, but their investigation during the week did not
yield too many tangible leads.
Someone in the political circle of Nitish Kumar is being protected and
therefore the long period and hesitation by the Bihar police in solving
this dastardly crime.
Ujwal Ghosh, a senior ICS officer in the Bihar Secretariat and the
father of Papiya and Tuktuk Ghosh died under mysterious circumstances on
December 4 1957 at a very young age. It was alleged that he was
poisoned.
Papiya Ghosh was just not a History Professor. She was known to all of
us who held her dear to our hearts and to the JS movement, ordinary
people according to Jug Suraiya still continue to be the oldest
teenagers. She with her sister, a brilliant duo did as much to start a
cult and is remembered in far corners of our country.
Papiya Ghosh became a History Professor, her sister Tuktuk is an IAS
officer attached to the Office of the Speaker of Lok Sabha, I became an
Orthopaedic Surgeon and traveled to remote African countries and so were
others who moved on ahead in India and abroad, but in the back of our
minds, we never forgot Papiya and Tuktuk Ghosh, Desmond Doig and off
course JS.
Papiya passed away unfortunately believing that Bihar holds a lot of
promise. The very little that Nitish Kumar can do now is to name a road
in Patna after her. The house in Patliputra Colony which was built by
her mother should be held in a trust that would keep all the belongings,
her books, research papers, long playing records, bhojpuri cassettes,
compact discs and photographs so that people from all over India could
come and pay homage to a person who wanted fervently to make Bihar a
better place to stay.
I remember Pritish Nandy’s poem from his book Lonesong Street –
“What
happens when the disc runs out?
The fevered evening reaches out,
What happens when the phone bell rings?
The dark is empty and so am I……”
December 31, 2006
See Also:
Papiya Ghosh: From JS to An End
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