Author: Papiyaghosh

To

The Hon'ble Prime Minister of India,
Govt. of India
New Delhi
 

11 December, 2006

Respected Sir,

Prof. Papiya Ghosh of Patna University, my sister, lost her life in the most barbaric and gruesome circumstances on 3rd December, 2006, in Patna. The perpetrators slaughtered her in the darkness of the night. She was single and therefore vulnerable. Her aged, invalid maid, Malti Devi, was not spared either by the criminals. We in the family, friends and well wishers are totally devastated by this heinous and dastardly crime against a defenceless woman.
It is strikingly uncanny that my father, Ujjal Kumar Ghosh, a senior IAS Officer of the Bihar Govt. had met a similar tragic end at Patna on 3rd December, 1957.

Prof. Ghosh was an erudite scholar and a dedicated teacher, who devoted herself wholeheartedly to the cause of higher education and original research on Bihar. She cherished academic excellence and consistently upheld the principles of intellectual honesty and integrity. At the time of her ghastly death, she was working on crucially important subjects related,
inter-alia, to syncretic, popular culture, Partition, Indian Diaspora, Bihari Muslims and the history of traditionally deprived sections of society. The very strong condemnation and genuine outpouring of shock, outrage and grief from all over the world for Prof. Ghosh is a resounding acknowledgement of her abiding contributions in the academic field and an affirmation that she had touched and transformed countless lives.

We cannot grieve enough for Papiya or bring her back to life. The last few hours of her life which were violated and desecrated with sheer viciousness, perversity and unimaginable cruelty, will always haunt us.

In the circumstances, I earnestly appeal to you to use your good offices to ensure that justice is neither delayed or denied and that Prof. Ghosh’s supreme sacrifice does not go in vain. Inaction or insensitivity, I may most humbly add, will send out a very negative message and embolden criminals to carry out similar ruthless crimes with impunity against innocent, law-abiding citizens, especially women.

A response from you in this regard will be greatly appreciated so that I may share it with family, friends and well wishers who are seriously concerned that this case does not end up becoming part of the statistics of “Unsolved or Unsolvable” crimes.
 

Thanking You ,

Sd/
(Dr. T. Kumar)

To

Dr. Manmohan Singh,
Prime Minister of India,
South Block,
New Delhi – 110001.
 

3 April, 2008


Respected Sir,

Subject: Appeal for justice in the murder of Prof.Papiya Ghosh of Patna University and Malti Devi.

On the night of 2 December, 2006 my younger sister, Professor Papiya Ghosh, was murdered with indescribable brutality inside her own house in Patliputra Colony, Patna. Neither was her aged, invalid maid, Malti Devi spared. Prof. Ghosh’s house was also looted of all items of value, big and small, with the criminals even managing to drive away in the victim’s own car.

As per the police statement, quoted in the press, six armed dacoits had entered Prof. Ghosh’s house and executed the heinous crimes with impunity.

The killing of Prof. Ghosh was carried out with a degree of savage brutality unparalleled in the crime history of Bihar. The worst type of atrocities against women and fatal violation of human rights were perpetrated.

Prof. Papiya Ghosh was a scrupulously honest citizen who lived on her own, and had dedicated her life to the cause of higher education in Bihar. I would request you to kindly visit the website www.papiyaghosh.com for more details about her works and life.

As a law abiding citizen, Prof. Ghosh depended on the state to provide the necessary security of life and property to all its citizens. But things turned out to be otherwise. Incidentally the victim’s house was a mere stone’s throw from the Pataliputra police thana.
Subsequent to the horrific killings, four of the murderous gang have been rounded up, and put on trial. But the case, although committed to a Fast Track court, is moving at snail’s pace.

But shockingly two of the culprits in the reprehensible crimes, named by the police, as quoted in the press, as Mustakeen and Sanjogi Rai, still remain out of the reach of the police even more than a year later, in spite of numerous representations having been made to the Chief Minister of Bihar, for their speedy arrest.

Neither have petitions to the Chairman, National Human Rights Commission, and the Chairperson, National Commission for Women, as well as other human rights organizations to get justice, met with any response.

Even applications for information regarding the absconding criminals, made under the Right To Information Act, have not been answered.

On behalf of the grieving family, I request you to prevail on the Government of Bihar to conduct a full and thorough investigation into these reprehensible crimes and to speedily arrest and put on trial the two absconding criminals.

The pronouncements made by our Government about the importance of protecting women’s rights and providing redress when they have been violated, need to be followed up with necessary action when such violations have unfortunately taken place. Otherwise they will remain as nothing more than pious intentions and we womenfolk will have to continue to endure these worst kinds of abuses of human rights in our society.

We await your kind intervention in the matter.

 
Yours Faithfully,
(Mrs. Keya Sen)
214, WTC Hilton Residency,
1191, Corniche El Nile,
Cairo, EGYPT
e-mail: keya_sen04@hotmail.com
 

RE: DEMAND FOR JUSTICE IN THE MURDERS OF DR. PAPIYA GHOSH AND MALTI DEVI
Tuesday, December 5, 2006

We are writing to express our outrage at the brutal and heinous murders of Dr. Papiya Ghosh, Professor of History at Patna University, and her domestic help Ms. Malti Devi, on the night of December 2nd in Patna in her home.

As of the time of this writing, it is clear from the news services and Dr. Ghosh’s own accounts to her friends (some of whom are among the undersigned) that this is not a routine robbery case-gone-wrong as the local police are alleging, but in fact involves collusion of local criminal and political elements who have over the past few years been threatening Dr. Ghosh to relinquish her ancestral property to their control.

With this letter that bears the signature of many of Dr. Ghosh’s academic and professional colleagues and friends from around the world, we demand that the Government of India take immediate action to bring all the criminal elements in this matter to justice. It is critical that the Central Government take charge in this investigation at the highest levels given the evident collusion between local political and criminal elements that has precipitated these horrible murders.

We will not rest in continuing to bring national and international pressure to bear on this outrage until the interests of justice are served in this case.

We, the undersigned, hereby add our names to this petition:

To

Dr. Manmohan Singh
The Honorable Prime Minister of India
South Block, Raisina Hill
New Delhi 110011

December 8th, 2006


Honorable Prime Minister,

Please find attached a petition that was circulated a few days go. It bears more than 120 attestations demanding justice in the brutal murders of Professor Papiya Ghosh and Ms. Malti Devi in Patna on the night of December 2nd 2006.

The signatories to the petition are faculty members teaching in various universities across India and the world, and colleagues and friends of the late Dr. Papiya Ghosh.

As the enclosed petition makes clear, we urgently request that the Government of India brings its full powers to bear in the investigation of these murders so that the guilty are brought to justice.

We thank you in advance for your consideration of our efforts in this matter.

Sincerely,
Sd/-
Sumathi Ramaswamy
Professor of History