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Protest marches and Dharnas
over the gruesome murder of Patna Women’s
College Professor, Papiya Ghosh painted the
State Capital red on Monday.
While the Police fumbled for
clues, Political parties and Social
Organizations took out rallies, staged
Dharnas and burnt effigies of the Chief
Minister to register their anger over what
they described as the abject failure of the
Government to control crime. They demanded
from the State Administration that the
killers be brought to book at the earliest.
Members of All India
Progressive Women's Association (AIPWA) took
out a protest march and burnt Chief
Minister, Nitish Kumar’s effigy at the
Income Tax Roundabout. Later, addressing a
meeting Anita Kumari held the Administration
responsible for the killing of Papiya Ghosh
and her maid. The dignity and life of women
was at great risk under the present regime
said Shakuntala Prasad. Binda Prasad,
Anuradha Singh, Rekha Kumari and many others
participated in the March.
All India Democratic
Students’ Organistaion (AIDSO) organized a
march from Patna College to Kargil Chowk.
They too burnt an effigy of the Chief
Minister and raised slogans like “Hatya,
loot, apharan ka ye shashan nahin chalega,
nahin chalega.” They later held a Meeting in
which the Speakers flayed the Government.
Not to be left out, the
members of RJD’s youth wing, Chatra
Rashtriya Janata Dal Members also staged a
Dharna. The leaders of the outfit said the
present Government had failed to keep the
promises, made to the people on the basis of
which they got elected. They sought to know
what happened to the Government’s promise of
curbing crime within three months of
assuming office
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“She gave sense and meaning
to history. After hearing her weekly
lectures at the Post-Graduate Department of
History, things that had seemed inexplicable
suddenly acquired a face that seemed as if
it was a known face. She was extremely
concerned about her students and often spent
her money for making additions to the
Department’s Library, for she often said
that it was a poor Library and how could
students get to know History unless they
were exposed to new facts and emerging
theories.”
This is about a Teacher who
was loved and revered by her students. Most
students gathered at the Department on
Monday, the day after she was murdered at
her home, seemed quite 'lost and unable to
accept' the fact that Professor Papiya Ghosh
was no more. "She was to have lectured us on
the Peasant Movement on the coming Friday.
Now, she would never be taking that class or
any other," said Reena Kumar, an MA Previous
student.
"She was so concerned about
our future and used to advise us on what to
do and what not do. So 'complete' a Teacher
I have never known and never will. It's
difficult to imagine anyone else teaching us
History, so total was her involvement with
the subject," said a final year student,
Rohit Prakash, as he and others just moped
about the halls of the Department. Professor
Ghosh's death was a shock her students
seemed not to still believe. Indeed some
went to the extent of suggesting that she
would suddenly emerge from one of the rooms
and summon them all for a friendly tête-â-
tête on the pertinent issues of the day, a
gesture she was in the habit, as some of
them pointed out, of repeating from time to
time.
What her students could not
understand was why did such a thing to
happen to someone like her, "so energetic,
so full of life, so much fun to be with and
so very progressive, a fine human being and
a wonderful Teacher, one who was so gentle
that she couldn't hurt a fly."
Said Parwez Kumar, a final
year student of history. "A total democrat
like her I have never seen. It's tough
accepting the fact that such a beautiful
human being and such a fine teacher is no
more."
For Krishna Sammit, a
student of the Previous year, History will
never be as interesting as she made it out
to be. "After each of her lectures, Ma'am
used to prescribe a list of books for us to
read so as to clarify any doubts that
remained, through after her lectures things
became so clear that we did not, often need
to consult any other books. She was in the
habit of bringing along to her lectures a
number of clippings pertaining to certain
historical issues that she had xeroxed and
distributed amongst us. The rarer ones she
pasted on the Department's Notice Board," he
said, his voice giving way as he remembered
Professor Ghosh and the difference she had
made to his outlook.
Zafar Kaleem, who attended
her last lecture on Saturday, said she
appeared very upset at the state of the
Department's Library and its maintenance.
"She was so angry, so very hurt by the
apathy of the Departmental authorities," he
said, adding that the way she taught was so
very unlike the way other Patna University
teachers taught, far more accessible,
extremely disciplined and very strict when
she needed to be.
There was one aspect of
Professor Ghosh's personality that few know
of. And that, according to Akhlaqur Rahman,
was her insistence upon her students knowing
the 'difference between a good newspaper and
one that was not as good.' "She truly
believed that newspapers exercised a great
influence on our lives and helped shape
society," he added.
Later, the students of the
Department, both Previous and Final Year
ones, held a Condolence Meeting at the
Darbhanga House today. Still later,
accompanied by the members of the All-India
Students Association (AISA) they took out a
Protest March and demanded that the CBI
probe her mysterious murder. Teaching in all
the Departments of the University remained
suspended for the whole of Monday.
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