A mob on Sunday lynched a youth in Baruipur, South 24-Parganas, accused of raping and murdering a 12-year-old girl, after police allegedly set another accused free on the “intervention” of a local BJP leader.
According to the girl’s family, she left home on Saturday afternoon to buy food but did not return. Residents alleged that four people had taken her away. Her body was recovered from a pond near her home in Baruipur on Sunday morning, prompting allegations of rape and murder.
Local sources claimed that all the accused were associated with the BJP.
Residents nabbed one of them and handed him over to police. They alleged he was set free after local BJP leader Santanu Mondal used his political clout. Reportedly, angry residents caught him and beat him to death.
However, the police denied Mondal’s role and claimed some people assaulted cops to free the suspect. They claimed another youth, also a suspect, was lynched.
Earlier, hundreds of villagers assembled on Kulpi Road after recovering the girl’s body and began a demonstration, refusing to allow the body’s removal until all the accused were arrested. It brought road and railway traffic to a standstill for five hours, with protesters blocking the Sealdah-Namkhana railway line and the arterial Kulpi Road.
The situation turned violent when cops attempted to clear the road and rail
blockades.
Protesters allegedly pelted stones at the police, forcing them to resort to a lathicharge. Several police personnel were reportedly injured, while a police camp was vandalised.
Mamata ‘barricaded’
Former chief minister Mamata Banerjee loyalist and Trinamool’s Beleghata MLA Kunal Ghosh on social media alleged that the BJP government was preventing the “jononetri (the people’s leader, referring to Mamata)” from visiting Baruipur.
“The jononetri intends to visit Baruipur. Upon learning this, a massive police force and barricades were deployed outside her residence to prevent her from leaving. Sources indicate that the barricades will remain in place tomorrow as well,” wrote Ghosh in Bengali.
“While police have not yet made an official statement, multiple sources have confirmed the situation. The netri (leader) was ready to depart, but the situation is currently complicated,” Ghosh added.
Local CPM leader Lahek Ali questioned the state’s law and order, saying: “The chief minister has been assuring of establishment of the rule of law in the state. While he claims so, BJP workers in the area are acting differently.... This is the BJP’s goonda raj.”
CPM’s Domkal MLA Mustafizur Rahman condemned BJP leader Mondal’s alleged intervention in setting a suspect free.
“I will raise the issue in the Assembly and ask the chief minister whether this is the rule of law he is claiming to have established in the state,” he said.
Claiming that four persons were involved, protesters alleged that only one suspect had been held and the others remained at large.
Protesters demanded the immediate arrest of each accused and their capital punishment, suspension of the police officer who allegedly released the suspect and legal action against the BJP leader.
Senior police officer of Baruipur police district refuted the allegations.
“Neither was any political intervention made, nor did the police succumb to any pressure,” a senior police officer said.
A local BJP leader also denied any political interference.
IG (Presidency Range) Kankar Prosad Barui assured the agitating villagers that every person responsible for the crime would be brought to justice.
“All involved in this incident will be arrested. We will make every possible effort to ensure highest punishment for the culprits,” he said. “The chief minister also assured the victim’s parents that no one connected with this case will be spared,” Barui said.
Suvendu, said sources, assured the family of justice and asked them to meet him at Bhabani Bhavan on Tuesday.
Following repeated appeals by senior police officer, the protesters withdrew the road and rail blockades by Sunday afternoon, allowing train services on the Sealdah-Namkhana section to resume gradually.
Police maintained a heavy deployment in the area to prevent any fresh outbreak of violence.
