Roktakto Jonmodin by Jayanta Dey [Hardcover]

In 2016, the death of young boy at a birthday party at an upscale high-rise rocked Kolkata to its core. What started off as a plea for speedy investigation turned into a wave of media sensationalism that was bent on proving a murder and framing the accused, encouraged by collective public outrage. In this hunt for the ‘murderer’, several friends of the deceased, young children and their families were interrogated, filmed and followed for days by the police, news channels and curious members of society. While it has been over 6 years and a murder has been ruled out, the impact of the incident has scarred those young minds for life. Jayanta Dey, as a very close witness to this casualty, brings in his first-hand experience of a seemingly innocuous birthday party that turned out life-altering for so many. Trauma, grief, public attention and an adolescence lost to fate – ‘Roktakto Jonmodin’ is unnerving and heart-rendering at the same time.