Auto driver thrashes civic volunteer in Hooghly, held

An auto driver allegedly beat up an on-duty civic volunteer at Hooghly’s Bandel. The incident took place on Tuesday night.

A speeding auto rickshaw flouted the traffic rule and the civic volunteer stopped him at the roadside.

The auto driver then started quarrelling with the civic volunteer. The verbal altercation soon turned into a fight.

Bacchu Mondal, the civic volunteer was beaten up when he demanded an explanation from the accused auto driver Soumen Maity.

“Mondal wanted to know the reason why Maity flouted the traffic rule. But Maity seemed reluctant to answer and tried get away with his auto. Mondal tried to bring him in the traffic police kiosk, but the auto driver started to beat him up,” said a police officer.

“The angry driver grabbed the civic volunteer by the collar and overpowered him. The volunteer had no other alternative but to raise an alarm. His seniors rushed there to catch the auto driver before he could decamp,” the officer added.

“The accused auto-driver is a local resident. He was arrested on the charge of beating up a civic volunteer. The victim, Bacchu Mondal lodged the complaint, on the basis of which we arrested him,” said a police officer.

The auto driver, however, alleged that the civic volunteer broke the windowpane of his vehicle.The incident made him angry and he beat up the civic volunteer. “The cost of windowpane is around Rs 5,000. How do I get the money? Police did not hear my complaints against the civic volunteer,” Maity 

said while he was being taken to the court.

It should be recalled that an auto driver was killed in accident at Bandel a few week ago. The Hooghly police have already started campaigning for ‘Safe Drive Save Life’ among the unruly auto drivers.

“It is really important to educate them. The problem with the errant drivers can be solved only by educating them,” said an officer of the Howrah police. The state Transport department had released a set of guidelines for auto drivers in the state a few months ago, in view of the spate of traffic violations.