Kolkata: A social activist and teacher in Bengal’s Nadia district was arrested for “organ selling” despite the existence of clear documentary proof that his deceased mother’s eyes were donated legally and with her prior consent. Sixty-five-year-old Rabeya Bibi, who passed away on February 8, had signed a written pledge in 2024 consenting to donate her eyes after her death. Following her passing, her corneas were collected by a local eye donation centre and sent to Murshidabad Medical College Hospital, with receipts and documentation confirming that the standard medical process was followed.Despite this, on February 8 itself, police took into custody her son, Amir Chand Sheikh, a government schoolteacher, along with five other family members, including three women. A court subsequently remanded them to three days of judicial custody and ordered a post-mortem. The arrests followed a violent mob attack on the family’s home in Senpur village under the Krishnanagar-I block, where the body had been kept before the burial. According to family members, a group of local men vandalised the house and assaulted the family, accusing them of committing “anti-religious acts” by allowing the organ donation. Rabeya Bibi’s signature on the 2024 undertaking.The situation escalated when the family approached the local police station seeking protection and attempting to lodge a complaint against their attackers. The police allegedly refused to register their complaint. Instead, acting on a written allegation submitted by a local cattle trader reportedly associated with the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), authorities apprehended the victims of the attack.“I am being framed. This is a conspiracy. Despite having all legal documents, we have been falsely implicated,” Amir Chand Sheikh told reporters while he was being led away. “Five to seven people from the neighbourhood have planned this deliberately. They want to destroy me. This is pure vendetta.”While the Nadia district police have declined to comment on the matter, medical authorities have categorically rejected allegations of organ sales.Ranjit Kumar Das, Chief Medical Officer of Health (CMOH), confirmed the legitimacy of the act to the media, stating, “The procedure followed is standard and legal. There is no question of selling organs in this case.”The certificate issued by the Murshidabad eye bank.Local sources suggest that the complaints may have been weaponised due to long-standing land disputes between the family and certain villagers. Sheikh is a well-known activist involved in river conservation and anti-superstition movements, having long promoted a scientific temper and post-death body donation while opposing communal politics. He is known to be an active supporter of Congress and has reportedly refused multiple offers to join TMC. “The state’s police minister is an RSS firebrand, and a section of police officers try to please her by following her line. This incident is not only tragic but deeply inhuman. It proves the path on which communal fundamentalist forces and the ruling Trinamool are walking -attacking a teacher from a marginal area,” said West Bengal Congress spokesperson Soumya Aich Roy.The police action has drawn sharp condemnation from various quarters, including the Association of Health Service Doctors, which sent a letter to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the Bengal health secretary condemning the move against a family for fulfilling a social responsibility.Senior advocate and MP Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya told The Wire, “Immediate legal action must be taken against those who made false allegations and the police officers who arrested Amir on the basis of those allegations.” Several science and environmental organisations have announced a joint protest outside Krishnanagar Kotwali police station, demanding the unconditional release of Sheikh and members of his family.Translated from the English original by Aparna Bhattacharya.