Hunger for justice makes boy a lawyer

Dipankar’s fight for justice began from the moment he recovered the charred bodies of his parents

Dipankar Das.

Arkamoy Datta Majumdar   |   TT  |  Calcutta   |    30.09.22  : Despair, desperation and sheer will to see the alleged killers of his parents being brought to justice have made an advocate out of 24-year-old Dipankar Das.

On May 13, 2018, a day before nominations were supposed to be filed for panchayat polls, Dipankar had recovered the charred bodies of his parents — Debu Das and Usha Rani Das — from their burnt-down house at Kakdwip in South 24-Parganas. 

The couple were known CPM supporters and the party accused local Trinamul Congress supporters of murder. Dipankar’s fight for justice began from the moment he recovered the charred bodies of his parents. Still in his teens, Dipankar, aided by the CPM’s legal cell, had to move court to get the bodies of his parents.

After resisting for five days and following a court order, police were forced to hand over the corpses over to Dipankar. The incident sowed the seeds of Dipankar’s unshakable faith in the judiciary. Four years and a few months later, on September 28, Dipankar secured an LLB degree from a private law college in Berunanpukuria near Barasat, North 24-Parganas, with 81 per cent aggregate marks.

In his own words, the 24-year-old CPM activist has embarked on a journey to bridge the gap between the victims of administrative negligence and justice to lend voice to those who have been silenced by the “ruler’s repression”.

“Not just me, I’ve seen thousands of people visit the court every day seeking justice, only because the law enforcers and the administration have failed them. My fight is for all of them,” Dipankar told The Telegraph. 

On Thursday, a day after his graduation results came out, Justice Rajasekhar Mantha — who is hearing Dipankar’s case — pulled up the police for not questioning the accused named in the FIR.“The police said that the fire that took my parents’ life broke out because of a short circuit. That is not right. They haven’t even questioned the people I’ve named in the FIR in all these years, let alone take action against them. On the contrary, they had arrested some CPM members in this case,” Dipankar said.

“Had the police been helpful and performed their duties, people like me wouldn’t need to walk this long road. But since they don’t I have decided to fight our battles as a lawyer.”

Amidst his newfound success, Dipankar yearns to go back to his home, for once. In the last four years, since he had left Kakdwip, he hasn't been able to set foot in his village. But, he refuses to give up.“I don’t doubt that there is light at the end of the tunnel because there has to be. That light is what has made me fight so far,” Dipankar said.