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Journalism of Courage
A pall of gloom hung over the houses of Tausif Sheikh (16) and Mozammel Sheikh (40), two of the three victims from the village, as family members kept waiting for the bullet-riddled bodies to reach the area after post mortem. Sources said it would take another day before the bodies reach the village for burial.
There were no visits by any political party leader in the area with roads deserted and smoke still coming out of gutted houses.
More than 36 hours after the nearly three-hour long clashes in which pitched battles were fought with country-made pistols and crude bombs, the police were yet to make any arrests. Early in the morning, the combat force of the West Bengal Police made a route march in the entire locality for about 10 minutes and claimed that the situation was “totally under control”.
The residents, however, continued to move out of the village, cattle and belongings in tow, all through the day. The trigger behind their exodus were rumours about “certain people” from Burdwan side crossing the Ajoy river and reaching Illambazzar area — a place not far away from Makra village. The villagers feared that another attack had been planned on the village, which has a majority Muslim population.
