Calcutta High Court on Saturday ordered the deployment of central forces in the trouble-torn areas of Murshidabad district, where three people have been killed in clashes over the protests against the Waqf Amendment Act.

Leader of the Opposition and BJP member Suvendu Adhikari had approached the high court seeking an urgent hearing of his plea for posting central forces in the “disturbed areas” to “save lives and property”.

Earlier, BSF deployment had failed to prevent the violence from worsening since the clashes broke out at Raghunathpur on Tuesday.

Ordering the deployment of central forces in Murshidabad, the bench of Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Raja Basu Choudhury said: “Central forces may be deployed in other areas of the state if needed, but the force would perform its duty in collaboration with the state and BSF.”

Amid allegations that the police’s initial inaction had allowed the violence to escalate, the state government dispatched director-general of police Rajeev Kumarto Murshidabad.

Union home secretary Govind Mohan held a video conference with Rajeev Kumar and chief secretary Manoj Pant over the situation in Murshidabad. Mohan mentioned during the meeting that 300 locally available BSF personnel in the district and an additional five companies, arranged from nearby districts, were deployed in Murshidabad at the request of the state government.

He also advised the state officials to keep a close watch on other sensitive districts to prevent the spread of the violence. He added that the Centre was closely monitoring the situation and assured all possible assistance, including deployment of additional forces, if needed.

Police said Izaz Ahmad, 16, who was injured when the force opened fire in Suti on Friday, had died at the Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital on Saturday. Two others with bullet injuries in the Suti firing were brought to the same hospital.

Haragobindo Das, 74, and his son Chandan Das, 40, were hacked to death at Dhuliyan in Samserganj on Saturday.

Sources in Nabanna said fresh trouble had broken out on Friday afternoon when protesters blocked NH12 at Suti and Samserganj, demanding the revocation of the new waqf law. As the tensions rose, mobs torched two buses and two ambulances at Kashipur in Suti.

Around the same time, protesters set fire to a traffic outpost and two motorcycles in Samserganj.

The state government called in the BSF in Suti and Samserganj on Friday evening.

But Samserganj erupted on Saturday morning when the BSF fired to break up an agitating mob, injuring Hasan Seikh, 12, and Muddin Seikh, 21. Clashes broke out between rival groups in several parts of Samserganj.

A group of people entered the Milanmandir area of Dhuliyan municipality in Samserganj and hacked Haragobindo and Chandan to death, the police said.

With some district officials claiming the situation went out of control after the BSF firing, the border force defended itself saying its jawans were forced to fire to save their own lives.

“A group was hurling petrol bombs and stones, and some of them fired from rooftops at a BSF patrol,” a senior BSF officer said.

“It was a frightening situation that seriously threatened the jawans’ lives, and the BSF was left with no choice but to fire in self-defence.”

DGP Kumar left for Murshidabad on Saturday afternoon and reached the district in the evening.

“We will not allow any kind of violence.… Nobody should take the law into their own hands. I urge people to cooperate with the police,” Kumar said.

However, many within the administration were asking why the police had not taken stern measures from the outset — a discomfiting question for the state government and the ruling party.

“There were enough signs that the trouble could go out of control after a severe law-and-order situation was created on Tuesday in Raghunathpur,” a senior administrative official said.

“The police should have handled the situation more carefully. The police’s lackadaisical approach led to the situation that the district has been witnessing since Friday afternoon.”

In her appeal for peace, Mamata underlined that her government did not support the Waqf Amendment Bill and reiterated that the Act would not be implemented in the state. She said some political parties were instigating people to start a riot in Bengal.

“It should be remembered that the Act against which many are agitated was not implemented by us. This Act was passed by the central government and questions should be asked to the centre,” she wrote on her X handle on Saturday.

However, the district remained tense throughout the day. Three Trinamool MLAs and the party MP from Jangipur, all residents of Samserganj, were chased away by local people when they tried to enter Dhuliyan with a message to stop the clashes.

Adhir Chowdhury, Congress leader and former Behrampore MP, blamed the police, saying their initial inertia allowed the situation to go out of hand.

“The police should have gathered intelligence about the minorities’ anger at the Waqf Amendment Act. The authorities should have reacted in time to stem the problem at the beginning,”Adhir said.

A senior bureaucrat made the usual comments about the administration keeping “a close watch” and taking “proper steps”.

“Not only in Murshidabad, we are keeping a close watch on the developments in all the districts. We want to nip the problem in the bud as the incidents in Murshidabad have tarnished the state’s image,” the bureaucrat said.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee posted an appeal for peace on social media while blaming the Centre for the developments. The Centre’s new waqf law curbs the state waqf boards’ powers to declare property as waqf — dedicated to charitable and religious purposes — and to manage them.