SI Amitava: Dutiful both at work and home

Kolkata: Wait for the sub-inspector's (SI) mother in her Madhyamgram residence is never going to come to an end as her elder son has fallen victim to the ploy of Bimal Gurung, who along with the Maoists and North-East insurgency groups prepared a blueprint to destabilise peace in the Hills.

Amitava Malik, an SI of the West Bengal Police, was posted at Darjeeling police station and he was one of the policemen in the group that was attacked where Gurung was hiding at Silubari in Darjeeling early morning on Friday.

He received a bullet injury when Gurung's bodyguards opened fired at the police. The police retaliated and forced Gurung and his men to step back. Amidst the exchange of fire, Amitava's body was found lying in a pool of blood on a road in the lap of the Hills. He died on spot.

It was quite difficult for any family members of the SI, who got married just six months ago, to accept that he was no more when the news reached his Madhyamgram home.

Belonging from a middle-class family, Amitava had struggled from his childhood to carry on with his studies. His father, Soumen Malik, works in a welding factory. Facing all odds, he had become an engineer from Burdwan University and joined the police force as an SI in 2014.

His brother is a student of Class XII and he too wants to join Defence. But he is sure that his mother would not allow him to go after his elder brother was martyred. Amitava had also bagged jobs in the banking sector but he chose to serve the nation by joining the police force.

Amitava was known as a responsible officer among his fellow mates. Similarly, he played a responsible role for his family members as well. He had spent his entire life with his mother, father and younger brother in a thatched roof house. After two years of getting the job, Amitava had managed to turn the house to a concrete one.

His mother was waiting eagerly for her son and Beauty Dutta Malik, daughter-in-law, as they were scheduled to come to the Madhyamgram home during Diwali. She had several plans to prepare food he likes. But her wait will never come to an end.

It was October 3 when the SI had spoken for the last time with his father over phone. He told him that he was in good health and also confirmed him about his schedule to return home during Diwali.

It may be mentioned that Amitava had also received minor injuries when there were trouble earlier in the Hills.