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 For us he was not a great
thinker, even not a renowned academician, but he
was our dearest "Dada"(elder brother)
who used to be present on "Bhai
Phonta"(a ceremony where sister makes a
sandal mark on the forehead of the brother praying
for his long life).Yes, he did dare to take "Bhai
Phonta" from his "fallen sisters"
in the public. Indian academicians or for that
matter Bengali intelligentsia may lost one of its
stalwarts but we lost a daring and caring brother
who never falter to stand by the cause of the sex
workers movement.
From the very inception of Durbar Professor Amlan
Dutta was vocal demanding the rights and
recognition for the sex workers. In his words
"we cannot seclude and marginalize the sex
workers while including their male counterparts
within the society. Rather it would be better to
give workers right to them providing proper health
care."
He used to be present on every event organized by
Durbar, even in the last one organized by Durbar
on 22nd January he regretted that he might not be
present in future for his age. Who knows that this
would become a bitter truth for us as he left us
on 18th February 2010.
We all are deeply mourned on his demise and will
miss him forever. Let's hope one day the
mainstream academicians could realize his
contribution towards a society free of violence
and gender inequality. To us he will remain
"dear dada" forever.
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