West Bengal: PhD holder who applied for euthanasia with family, finally gets help

(This story was first published in EiSamay on August 19, 2019)

For days, Kamal and Gita Bandyopadhyay were helpless and waiting for death. Their daughter Gargi Bandyopadhyay, a PhD in music applied for euthanasia with family due to unemployment and starvation on July 30. But after their story broke out in newspaper, the Bandyopadhyay family is not left alone anymore.

On Saturday, the lonely family greeted locals along with Gargi's childhood friend from Delhi. On Sunday, Barasat Sub division Magistrate Tapas Biswas visited the family with district hospital superintendent Subrata Mondal. The Barasat hospital has promised to take responsibility of the family's healthcare and will provide medicines throughout the year. DM Biswas has promised to arrange old age pension to the elderly couple.

Apart from that various district organizations have come forward to help the Bandyopadhyay family.

Recently Gargi sought for permission for euthanasia from Barasat Municipality and District Magistrate. Due to insufficient savings for survival and welfare of her parents, Gargi who got separated from her husband and has been staying with the parents for long was helpless. The family have been starving for many days. After help from so many people, the Bandyopadhyay family now wants to live.

Read the story in Bengali here