House in Ballygunj stoned for protesting against loud music

A few members of a local club at Ballygunj Place in South Kolkata attacked the residence of a school headmaster in the wee hours on Monday for protesting against playing of loud music during a programme organised on the eve of Kali Puja.

Basudev Ghosh, headmaster of Bani Bhushan High School in Baghajatin, resides in a second floor flat at Ballygunj place with his wife Keya Chattopadhyay, a professor at Fakirchand College in Diamond Harbour, and daughter who studies in class XI.

His aged mother Anjali Ghosh stays in another flat in the first floor of the same building.

Since Sunday evening, the family was forced to stay inside their flat, keeping all the doors and windows closed, to avoid getting disturbed by the loud sound of the music system installed for the programme.

However, the situation turned worse when members of Netaji Sangha continued the programme that had started at around 6.30 pm even after 10 pm.

Ghosh approached the organisers and requested them to end the programme as it was becoming impossible for them to sleep with the speakers playing loud music.

His mother was also having trouble due to the heavy noise.

Initially the members assured that they would bring the programme to an end in a few minutes.

However, the revellers paid no heed to Ghosh’s request and the singers on the stage continued singing and other members of the club went on dancing to the loud music.

Irked by this, Ghosh once again came down and urged them to stop playing the speakers at the top of its volume.

This time, however, they threatened him. Ghosh alleged: “The members of the club threatened me with dire consequences when I once again approached them to stop playing the music system so loudly.”

On Monday morning, Ghosh’s mother heard the sound of the windowpanes of her house being smashed with stones. The windows of her son’s flat too were damaged by stones.

Ghosh, his family and his mother escaped unhurt, but they said it was the handiwork of the club members.

Ghosh lodged a written complaint with Gariahat police station on Monday.

The club authorities, however, refuted the allegations and claimed that none of their members were involved in the stone pelting.

Revellers playing loud music till late night has become a menace in some parts of the city. During festive occasions, this problem crops up several times.