Rescuers try to pull the bus out of the pond

Malda, July 19: A home-guard hurrying to help the accident victims paid the price of being in being in uniform.

Angered by “delay” in police action, agitated residents beat up Enarul Haque the moment he arrived at the scene of the mishap. Haque had to be admitted to a hospital with multiple injures.

The accident occurred at 8 am and villagers alleged that the police finally arrived at 11, after the residents’ rescue operation had been called off. The owner of a local telephone booth, Azhar Ali, said he had called the police about 10 minutes after the incident.

The mob vent its fury on the police by pelting stones at them. A lathi-charge was ordered to prevent the situation from getting out of hand.

A highway patrol van apparently arrived almost immediately after the police were informed about the mishap over phone. But members of the patrol team refused to join the rescue after seeing Haque being beaten up.

They waited a short distance away till reinforcements, led by district superintendent of police Sashi Kant Poojari, arrived.

Asked about the violence that erupted in Lakshmipur, deputy inspector-general, Malda range, Nanda Kumar Biswas said he “found nothing wrong” with the way the police acted.

“The home-guard who went there as a rescuer had to face the wrath of the mob. Would any person volunteer to face the mob’s fury?” he asked.

“This was a major accident and the police had to come prepared to face any challenge that a rescue operation could pose. It was useless rushing to the scene of the incident without equipment like cranes. The policemen must have taken time to prepare themselves for all possibilities,” said Biswas.

The DIG, however, promised to look into the allegations of delay and punish anybody found guilty.

The fire brigade personnel admitted that there was little left to do when they reached the spot. “Residents had rescued survivors and pulled out the bodies,” a fire department official said.

Civil defence minister Srikumar Mukherjee said: “In most accident cases local people do the initial rescue work.”

District magistrate Ashok Bala said: “We are bereaved. We shall do all that is possible for the families of the deceased.”