Residents, mainly tribal people, of a village near Rampurhat in Birbhum district shut down a high school, thrashed the headmaster and blocked a state highway for over 13 hours on Thursday in protest against the murder of a Class VII girl whose dismembered body was recovered on Tuesday night.
"The blockade completely jeopardised the traffic on the highway that connects Jharkhand’s Dumka," said a police source.
The blockade on the Rampurhat-Dumka Road continued until late Thursday evening. The villagers stormed the school and thrashed headmaster Sandeep Saha, accusing him of failing to take action against the arrested teacher despite several verbal complaints.
Police recovered the mutilated body of the 13-year-old girl on Tuesday night. Manoj Kumar Pal, an assistant teacher of the school, who purportedly confessed to the crime, was arrested on Wednesday.
A source said the villagers agitated mainly to press for two demands. First, they demanded capital punishment for the arrested teacher for committing such a heinous crime. Second, the protesters wanted to know why the school authorities had not taken action earlier, despite verbal reports about the teacher’s perversion.
The villagers also accused the police of delaying the investigation, even though a missing person's complaint had been lodged earlier. The girl had gone missing on August 28.
Although the police recovered the girl’s mutilated body, the lower part is still missing, the source said.
The protest began at the high school, where villagers confined all teachers.
As headmaster Saha was manhandled by the protesters in the presence of the police, the teachers’ fraternity condemned the attack.
“It is very unfortunate that the headmaster, who is also the local secretary of our outfit, was beaten up by some goons. Police rescued him and kept him in safe custody. We will launch a protest against this,” said Chandan Maiti, general secretary of the Advanced Society for Headmasters and Headmistresses.
Maiti said he would visit Rampurhat on Friday to meet the assaulted headmaster.
A large contingent of the police later arrived and rescued the teachers from the protesters’ grip, which triggered chaos and anger against the police.
“The villagers drove away the police after they rescued the teachers. Later, the villagers shut down the school,” said a police source.
Rabin Soren, president of Disham Adivasi Gaonta, reached the spot and attempted to pacify the protesting villagers.
“This is a regrettable incident, and the anger of the villagers is justified. We also demand capital punishment through a speedy trial,” Soren said.
"The villagers had anger against the police as the accused teacher had earlier been detained but was released shortly," he added.
The BJP also staged a protest in front of the Rampurhat police station on Thursday, accusing the law enforcers of inefficiency, even in failing to recover the full remains of the girl’s body.
“Police even failed to recover the lower part of the body. Trinamool Congress leaders, under the guise of different tribal outfits, are trying to mislead the villagers and the family,” alleged Dhruba Saha, the Birbhum BJP president.
“The family members want a central agency probe and the autopsy to be conducted at the Kalyani AIIMS run by the Centre,” he added.