Police at Bogtui village in Birbhum district following the violence. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)Birbhum violence case Live Updates: Security has been ramped up in Rampurhat ahead of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s scheduled visit to Bogtui later during the day. On Wednesday, Banerjee vowed that strict action will be taken against the perpetrators of the violence, which resulted in the deaths of eight people, including women and children. She will be hold meetings with senior police officers including Director General of Police Manoj Malaviya before visiting Bogtui. Later, she may also visit Rampurhat hospital to meet the injured people, PTI has reported.
Meanwhile, the Calcutta High Court has sought a status report on the Birbhum violence from the West Bengal government by Thursday 2 pm.
Eight charred bodies were recovered from a cluster of houses in Bugtoi village on Tuesday. The violence was reportedly sparked by the murder of a deputy gram pradhan, Bhadu Sheikh, associated with the TMC. Hours after the murder, a cluster of houses, including those of the accused in Bhadu’s murder, was allegedly attacked and set on fire.
Villegers gathering in front of Bhadu Sheikh's house. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)
Security has been ramped up in Rampurhat ahead of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s scheduled visit to Bogtui later during the day.
She will be hold meetings with senior police officers including Director General of Police Manoj Malaviya before visiting Bogtui. Later, she may also visit Rampurhat hospital to meet the injured people, PTI has reported.
CCTVs have been set up around the helipad where the chief minister's helicopter will land, a senior police officer said.
Expressing his condolences to the families of Tuesday’s Birbhum violence victims, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he hopes the state government will get the perpetrators punished. “Main hinsak vaardaat par dukh vyakt karta hoon, apni samvedna vyakt karta hoon, aur asha karta hoon ki rajya sarkar Bengal ki mahaan dharti par aisa jaghanya paap karne waalon ko zaroor saza dilwayegi (I express my condolences on the violent incident in Birbhum, and hope the state government will get those who committed such a heinous sin on the great land of Bengal punished),” he said, while digitally inaugurating ‘Biplobi Bharat Gallery’ at Kolkata’s Victoria Memorial Hall on Wednesday evening. Read more
The Calcutta High Court has sought a status report on the Birbhum violence from the West Bengal government by Thursday 2 pm. A division bench headed by Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava, taking up a suo motu petition and a set of PILs, directed the installation of CCTV cameras in the presence of the district judge and 24×7 CCTV surveillance of the scene of occurrence.
The court also directed a team of Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) in Delhi to immediately collect necessary materials for forensic examination at Bogtui village where at least eight people were charred to death. Read more
With the Calcutta High Court directing the West Bengal police to submit a report on the killing of eight people in Birbhum following a local TMC leader’s murder, and the BJP taking aim at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the incident, the family members of those targeted in Bogtui village told The Indian Express that the women and children who were killed had huddled together in one room but the assailants “still set it on fire”.
The family members also alleged that ten of their kin were killed on Monday night, and not eight as claimed by the police and that even those eight bodies were not handed over to them but buried by police late on Tuesday night in the village. Read the story here
A delegation of nearly 55 BJP MLAs visited Bagtui village in Birbhum district where eight people, including women and children, were charred to death after their houses were set on fire a day before.
The legislators led by Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari inspected the burnt houses in the village. Demanding a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) or the CBI into the incident, Adhikari claimed that chief minister Mamata Banerjee will be visiting the scene of crime to destroy evidence.
The opposition leader said he had written a letter to the Union home secretary on the issue. “It is a very unfortunate incident, a genocide. The SIT is part of the state police. The President’s rule is the only way to save Bengal,” Adhikari said, blaming the CM for the incident. Read more
"I will go there (Bogtui village) Thursday. I would have gone there today (Wedensday), but a few political parties are on their way to the place. It would get late by the time they return. I don't want to visit the place when they (opposition leaders) are around. I don't want to get into any quarrel," Mamata Banerjee said on Wednesday.
"Let them relish ‘lyangcha' and then get on with their journey to Rampurhat," Banerjee quipped.
Referring to past incidents of violence in other states, she said that her party MPs were stopped at the airport in Assam, where they had gone to protest NRC implementation, and entry wasn't allowed in UP's Hathras and Unnao (where gang-rape cases occurred), too, but her government would never do the same. "This is Bengal, not UP. We allowed everyone to visit Birbhum," she said.
"Not justifying the Birbhum killings, but such incidents are more frequent in UP, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan," Banerjee said. (PTI)