Smashing eggs on Trinamool leaders has emerged as a recurring feature in recent weeks.

A form of attack that has not drawn any police action.

Since the BJP assumed charge in Bengal, multiple Trinamool leaders have been targeted with egg attacks under police escort. In several instances, officers appeared more focused on shielding themselves than protecting those in their custody.

Case 1: Sabyasachi Dutta, former Bidhannagar mayor, was hit at least eight times within a minute after police arrested him on June 9. Four eggs struck him directly, leaving visible marks. Beyond the physical impact was the public humiliation of a political figure in custody. No case was registered against the attackers.

Case 2: Bappaditya Dasgupta, a Trinamool councillor from Patuli, was dragged and pushed into a police vehicle in what appeared to be an attempt by officers to shield him from an egg attack on June 7.

Case 3: Jay Prakash Majumdar, Trinamool state vice-president, initially refused to step out of the police vehicle after seeing a crowd waiting outside a Salt Lake building where officers had taken him on June 5 in connection with a probe. Requests, pleas and folded hands did not work. He eventually stepped out, and eggs were hurled at him.

In all three cases, police personnel used helmets or fibreglass shields but failed to prevent the attacks on either the leaders or themselves. There was, however, no attempt to detain or disperse the attackers.

In effect, the police appeared to absorb the attacks, allowing the mob to complete its action.

The pattern began on May 30, when Abhishek Banerjee was targeted during a visit to Sonarpur. In the two weeks since then, at least a dozen Trinamool leaders and functionaries have reportedly faced similar incidents.

In all cases, crowds gathered close to courts or police stations where Trinamool functionaries were present, with eggs readily available.

Television channels have interviewed attackers on the spot, even reporting details of their plans with eggs in hand. Questions included whether the eggs were fresh or rotten, and how many had been thrown.

Senior police officers said such acts amount to a “gross violation” of human rights but often do not attract criminal action because no physical injury is recorded.

Several officers said egg-hurling could still be treated as an offence if the administration chose to act.

“If someone is obstructing a public servant from performing duty, it is a serious offence. That is exactly what the mob is doing here,” said an officer.

Human rights activist Sujato Bhadra said it was the police’s primary duty to ensure protection of all accused persons, both physical and mental. “The cardinal principle is that an accused is to be presumed innocent till proven guilty,” he said.

He said that the attacks appeared planned and organised.

Criminal lawyer Sk. Salim Rahaman said even eggs could cause injury, and attacks on persons under police protection carried graver implications. “Such acts could attract sections relating to unlawful assembly, obstruction of public servants and voluntary hurt,” he said.

A retired IPS officer said the police could have handled the incidents differently had they chosen to. “Are we to believe the police had no intelligence about such gatherings and the availability of eggs?” he asked.

Some serving officers said the incidents reflected public anger, suggesting that stopping them could create law-and-order trouble.

A former Calcutta police commissioner said the incidents reflected “people’s wrath built up over the past few years”. “It is like a volcano erupting. Earlier they were scared. Now the anger is coming out,” he said.

Asked whether police had a duty to prevent such acts, he added: “This is more than a policing issue; it is socio-psychological. The police are part of society too. They too have been humiliated. The people throwing eggs are the aggrieved party. How will police lathi-charge an already aggrieved party?”

A former Bengal chief secretary said such forms of protest were not new. “The concept of throwing eggs has come from the West. Even here, Opposition leaders have used ink or tomatoes as protest,” he said.