A stray bullet to the stomach, on the sidelines of a clash, caused the loss of a kidney for 12-year-old innocent passerby Hassan Sheikh of Samserganj, who used to help his family make ends meet from the paltry tips received for running errands at the Anupnagar Block Hospital.

A stray bullet to the stomach, on the morning of April 12, changed the preteen’s life forever.

Sheikh is one of several instances from the strife-torn pockets of Murshidabad, on the boil earlier this month from violence and vandalism in the wake of protests against the Narendra Modi government’s contentious waqf legislation. Modi’s party, the BJP, has been feverishly trying to pitch the unrest as an anti-Hindu pogrom in the Muslim-majority district.

On the ground in Dhulian, local sources said many people were shot at on April 12, but there have been no reports of these shootings in the mainstream media and the administration did not have any concrete information. This newspaper’s inquiries in Dhulian revealed that at least 16 people were shot at that morning in the northern pocket of Murshidabad.

The people had to take initiative on their own to get treatment. They said some have been and are being treated at Pakur Hospital in Jharkhand, some at Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital in Behrampore, and some at private hospitals in Murshidabad.

On the morning of April 12, the second day of the unrest, Sheikh was leaving his house and going to the block hospital, when he saw a rally on the main road in front of him, and a clash between two groups. Suddenly, a bullet hit him on the right side of his stomach, and he stooped to the ground.

After the groups dispersed, some people took him to the block hospital, from where he was referred to the Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital, where he spent 10 days. That is when one of his kidneys, damaged from the gunshot, had to be removed. According to the doctors, there was an infection in the affected kidney, which would have infected the other one soon had it not been taken out.

After being discharged earlier this week, Sheikh had been lying at home without postoperative treatment for three days before Trinamool Congress’s MP and local businessman Khalilur Rahman went to his house at Kamate and provided assistance of Rs 50,000.

Seeing his condition, the MP had him admitted to his own private hospital, from where he was shifted to Calcutta’s SSKM Hospital on Friday.

Sheikh’s father Maun Sheikh said: “My wife and I make a humble living by binding bidis. We are a very poor family.”

Before the injury, Hasan used to go to the Anupnagar Block Hospital every morning and run errands for the doctors and other hospital staff, in an informal arrangement. In return, they used to give him Rs 20-50 as tips. That is why he went to the hospital daily.

“Nobody reached out, officially, for any help. Only (Congress leader) Adhir Chowdhury visited him at the hospital in Behrampore. Then, two days ago, Khalil saheb came and gave us ₹50,000 personally, and had him admitted to his own hospital,” said the father.

Manish Kumar, a doctor at the Dhulian-based private hospital, said they were treating him for infection in the remaining kidney but more advanced technology is necessary.

“So we have decided to refer him to the SSKM,” he said.

On the same day, Dhulian’s Tarbagan resident Ghulam Mainuddin, 22, was shot in both legs. Following treatment for nine days at the Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital, Mainuddin remains unable to stand up.

“The incident happened around 9am on April 12. I didn’t know that there was trouble on the streets, that there was shooting. My mother is paralysed. I was walking towards the market to get her medicines. When I crossed the neighbourhood lane and reached the main road, I was shot,” he said.

“A bullet hit my right thigh. I fell to the ground. Then they grabbed me and dragged me into a car. After putting me in the car, they shot me in the left thigh with a pistol. Then they took me out of the car, threw me to the ground and left. I know their faces, but not the names of those who shot me... they are people from these areas,” added Mainuddin. His brother, Hasibul Sheikh, said: “We are poor people, a hard-working family. We don’t ever get involved in any trouble. My mother is paralysed, she has to be given medicines regularly. My brother had simply gone to get those medicines.”

“If he had known there was such trouble, he would not have gone. After shooting him once, they caught him and shot him again. The people who shot him were local people, but were wearing armed forces’ fatigues,” he added.

“We took him to the hospital for treatment... he was admitted for nine days. Nobody — no leader, no government official — reached out. Nobody went to see him.”

In Calcutta’s SSKM, 26-year-old Samser Nadab underwent a spinal surgery on Wednesday for a gunshot wound. Nadab is from Dhulian’s Hijultala.

On April 12, Nadab had gone to visit his sister at her in-laws’ residence in Mathpara. Hearing noises in the wake of the rally, he went to the terrace to see what was going on, when a bullet hit him in his lower back and he fell onto an adjoining roof. About two hours later, his sister Tumpa Bibi found him bleeding and unconscious.

Nadab was rushed to the Anupnagar Block Hospital, then the Jangipur Sub-divisional Hospital, and then the Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital, before finally being sent to the SSKM in Calcutta.

Nadab has a wife, two children, and elderly parents at home. He makes a living by binding bidis, and is the sole breadwinner for the family.

On Tuesday, local MP Rahman visited them and personally gave Rs 25,000 as financial assistance.

“Other than Khalil saheb, nobody reached out, from the government or the administration,” said Tumpa Bibi.

“My brother was simply a curious onlooker. We don’t know when he would be able to lead a normal life again, if at all,” she added.

SP transfer

The state government on Friday transferred six IPS officers, including Ananda Roy, the chief of Jangipur police district, under which recently riot-hit Samserganj falls.

Roy was transferred as commanding officer (CO) of the 3rd battalion of the state armed police.

Murshidabad police superintendent Surya Pratap Yadav was also removed and posted as the CO of Narayani battalion in Cooch Behar.

Roy was replaced by Amit Kumar Shaw, a deputy commissioner of police in Calcutta, while Yadav was replaced by Ranaghat SP Kumar Sunny Raj.