Rajbanghshi youth killed in Kaliaganj; BJP claims police brutality, kin blame CM

Amid ongoing protests over an unnatural death of a 17-year-old girl, a 33- year-old Rajbangshi youth was killed in Kaliaganj in West Bengal’s Uttar Dinajpur district

Amid ongoing protests over an unnatural death of a 17-year-old girl, a 33- year-old Rajbangshi youth was killed in Kaliaganj in West Bengal’s Uttar Dinajpur district on April 27. The death of the youth, which comes a day after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asked the police to take strong action including auctioning properties of those involved in the attack on Kaliaganj police station, has sparked a political row. The BJP leadership and Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari claimed that the youth was killed by police. Family members of the youth, including the mother, blamed the Chief Minister for his death.

“Mamata police brutally killed a Rajbangshi young man of 33 years at Kaliaganj. Trigger-happy ‘Mamata’ police raided the house of a BJP panchayat samiti member Bishnu Barman at 2:30 am midnight (April 27; 2023) but did not find him. They brutally shot dead a Rajbangshi young man named Mrityunjay Barman; 33 years old, S/O Rabindranath Barman,” Mr. Adhikari said on social media. State BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said that since the Rajbangshis voted for the BJP in the past the police were targeting the community.

The region has been on the boil since April 21 when the body of a 17-year-old was found. While the police claimed that the death of the teenage girl was due to consumption of poison the locals have been asserting that the Rajbanghshi girl was sexually assaulted and killed. To make matters worse, policemen were seen dragging the body of the victim. While there have been sporadic incidents of violence over the incident, on April 25 a mob attacked Kaliaganj police station and burnt vehicles. Policemen were seen in uniform cowering in a room, pleading with the protesters with folded hands to spare them.  

Earlier, the Calcutta High Court directed West Bengal police to file a progress report on its probe into the unnatural death of a minor girl at Kaliaganj. The court also directed the State government to hand over to the girl’s father copies of the post-mortem and inquest reports and FIR in the case after he petitioned for transfer of the probe into the death to the Central Bureau of Investigation. Meanwhile, a team of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes has summoned senior officers of Uttar Dinajpur district over the incident.

The youth’s death on April 27 further aggravated the situation. Internet services have been suspended in Kaliaganj for the next few days. A huge contingent of police was deployed at the village where the body of the youth was likely to be brought.  Raiganj BJP MP Debashree Chaudhuri called for a 12-hour bandh in north Bengal on April 28. The BJP leadership, however, said that the party had not taken any decision on calling a bandh. Trinamool Congress leadership said the truth would come out only after a post-mortem report and nobody should jump to conclusions.