Tension at Joynagar in Bengal after body of a missing 9 year old girl found; villagers attack police, set police camp on fire

Violence broke out at Joynagar in West Bengal’s South 24 Paraganas district on Saturday as angry villagers clashed with police following the recovery of the body of a 9-year-old girl under mysterious circumstances. The girl from Kultali had gone missing on Friday and her body was found late in the evening. Police have arrested an 18-year-old youth in connection with the killing.

Irate villagers blocked the road, staged protests and later set Mahishmari police camp on fire, alleging police inaction. Villagers alleged that after the girl went missing, police had been reluctant to lodge a complaint citing jurisdictional norms. Mob had heckled police, attacked them with brooms and kitchen utensils. Police had resorted to tear gas shell firing to control the crowd. Villagers suspect the minor was raped and then killed.

“We received information around 9 pm on Friday. A case was registered. The accused has been arrested and he has confessed to the crime. When police went to the village around 3.30 am on Friday, villagers staged a protest. We have taken each and every step promptly. We are looking into the grievances of the villagers,” Palash Chandra Dhali, superintendent of police of Baruipur police district, told the press.

The minor, a class four student, according to her family had left home around 2.30 pm on Friday for her tuition class. The father claims to have spotted her last at around 5 pm in the evening. “She came to my shop in the local market around 5 pm on her way back home from the tuition classes. But when I returned home at night, I was told that she never reached home. We and other villagers started searching for her. Later her body was found around one kilometre from our home,” said the father of the girl, unable to control her tears.

The family has alleged that after they went to lodge a complaint at the Mahismari police camp to lodge a complaint, they were directed to Joynagar police station as their house came under the jurisdiction of the Joynagar Police station. “We were literally shuttled between two police stations. Instead of lodging a complaint, at Mahismari police camp, we were asked to go Joynagar police station. There we were asked to go back to Mahismari”, said the uncle of the victim. Additional forces have been deployed in the village to control any fresh flare-ups.