WB violence: ‘No idea who set fire to police station,’ say protest rally organisers; ‘planned attack,’ say police

“We did not expect the huge gathering on Tuesday. Thousands of people gathered for the rally, including women. Emotions ran high… The way the girl was raped and murdered and later her body dragged by police in a shameful way. People were obviously angry and then police lathi-charged and lobbed tear gas shells,” Burman added.

“We gave a letter to Kaliaganj police station about our protest on April 23 and took written permission from them. Our aim was simply to march to the police station and submit a memorandum demanding punishment of culprits for the heinous crime,” Burman said.

“Police were ready with barricades, water cannons and tear gas shells. We walked towards the police station but were stopped at one of the barricades. Our representatives were not allowed to enter or submit the memorandum. The police then suddenly resorted to lathi-charge, bursting tear gas shells on the protesters. Suddenly we heard that some people torched portions of the police station. It was an unfortunate incident,” Burman added.

Portions of Kaliaganj police station, including vehicles parked inside, were torched as the protests turned violent. By late Tuesday evening, the police detained over 25 people on charges of violence and arson. According to Burman, committee president Ramendranath Roy and some others too were picked up by the police early on Wednesday. The committee was recently formed with nearly a dozen Rajbonshi and ST organisations.

Additional Director General of Police (North Bengal) Ajay Kumar told reporters that the police had not granted permission to take out the procession. “It was a pre-planned attack,” Kumar said. “They were supposed to take out a procession, not throw stones at policemen. They also did not have permission to take out the procession. It seems that some people provoked these people over the April 21 incident, which led to this situation,” he added.

The police are trying to identify those responsible for the violence. “Seventeen police personnel were injured and two have been shifted to Raiganj as their condition is very serious. We are conducting raids to round up the attackers and the arsonists. Patrolling is also going on in the town,” ADGP Kumar said.

Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly Suvendu Adhikari questioned the law and order situation in Bengal. “If the state government had listened to the family’s demand for a CBI probe, yesterday’s incident would not have taken place. We do not support the attack on the police station and policemen but it needs to be found whether the police attacked the peaceful protesters or the protesters attacked the police first. The incident proves that the law and order in Bengal is fast deteriorating,” said Adhikari.

Meanwhile, West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose is learnt to have sought a report over the incident from Chief Secretary H K Dwivedi and DGP Manoj Malviya. He is also learnt to have cut short his trip to Delhi. A BJP delegation comprising MLAs from north Bengal will call on the governor at Raj Bhavan on Wednesday afternoon, seeking his intervention in the matter. A Congress delegation too will visit Raj Bhavan later in the day, to speak to the governor on this issue.