Police said that they cannot arrest everyone when an angry mob attacks them or resorts to violence. This is because, there could be several elements trying to create trouble and it is difficult to identify such miscreants in a big crowd. (Express Photo by Subham Dutta)
Mob fury is becoming a growing trend in the state and giving tough time to West Bengal police in maintaining law and order, police officers said. The latest case in point is an accident on EM Bypass on Saturday following which angry locals had set buses on fire and attacked policemen. A similar mob violence was witnessed in Murshidabad earlier this week when a bus had fallen into a canal, killing 44 people.
“In today’s accident (on EM Bypass), we will identify and check who were behind the violence,” said an officer of Kolkata Police. Following the Murshidabad incident, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said that hooliganism in the name of protest won’t be tolerated. “Some political parties are behind it. The accident happened because of the driver’s mistake. What can we do? Hooliganism and taking law into the hands will not be allowed. I have asked police to take action,” she had said.
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Police said that they cannot arrest everyone when an angry mob attacks them or resorts to violence. This is because, there could be several elements trying to create trouble and it is difficult to identify such miscreants in a big crowd. “Mob violence is not new. But, yes it’s a growing trend. There is no particular reason behind such attacks — it could be an accident, a communal tension, or anything of that sort. There are always some people who try to create trouble. In a crowd of 20,000, it just needs a few people with criminal background to create violence,” a senior police officer, who had handled the mob violence after Murshidabad bus accident, told The Sunday Express.
Police sources said that hooligans always take advantage of accidents or communal tension to foment further trouble, and identifying them becomes the most challenging part. “It is difficult to identify rogue elements in the crowd, but definitely not impossible. Once they are identified, action can be taken. In Murshidabad violence too, we have identified trouble-makers, but arrests will be made only after thorough investigation,” said a police officer.