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Fresh violence in 2 Bengal districts over Prophet comment row; 100 arrested
The West Bengal Police on Sunday said 100 people have been arrested for recent incidents of violence and asked people not to spread rumours and false narratives that may incite people
KOLKATA: Fresh incidents of violence took place on Sunday in two West Bengal districts of Nadia and Murshidabad over the controversial comments on Prophet Mohammed, police said. In North 24 Parganas’s Deganga area, protesters blocked the Taki Road for more than two hours and clashed with police personnel trying to disperse them.
The administration has already shifted out police officers from Howrah, which witnessed incidents of arson on Saturday, and Murshidabad, where a riot-like situation was witnessed in the Beldanga area and a police station was attacked on Saturday.
By Sunday evening, the Bengal Police said it has arrested more than 100 people and will not spare anyone indulging in violence.
“It is advised to all to refrain from indulging in rumour mongering spreading false narratives, videos, photographs etc. that may incite communal riots. Any such acts will be prosecuted under the strictest penal sections of law,” the West Bengal police said in a post on Twitter.
It added that cases were registered “under stringent sections of law for road blockade, rioting, arson damage to public property and spreading communal hatred”.
“Nobody who indulges in any of these crimes will be spared,” the police said.
Trouble first broke out in Nadia on Sunday afternoon after a group of 200 people took out a procession at Bethuadahari against the comments made by former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokespersons Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal.
The protest later turned violent and the group pelted stones at shops and damaged a train at the local station, police said, adding that it was claimed that the protesters were provoked by some people who passed some “insulting remarks” at them. “They pelted stones that damaged a number of shops,” a local police officer said on condition of anonymity.
“Train services had to be stopped after stones were pelted at Ranaghat-Lalgola passenger train at Bethuadahari station. Some people, including a reporter, were injured in the incident. The down Hazarduari Express had to be stopped at Dhubulia station in view of the violence,” Eklavya Chakraborty, chief public relations officer, Eastern Railway said in the evening. “Efforts are being made to resume train services,” he added.
There was trouble at Nadia’s Haringhata as well where police tried to stop the procession but the crowd broke through police barricades, police said.
Incidents of arson and attacks on some houses were reported at Shaktipur in Murshidabad district where internet services were already suspended in some areas after a mob targeted the Beldanga police station on Friday. The officer-in-charge of Beldanga police station, Sandipan Chatterjee, was replaced by Jamaluddin Mondal who was transferred from the New Town police station near Kolkata on Sunday.
Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders led by state president Sukanta Majumdar started a sit-in demonstration near Gandhi’s statue in the Maidans.
“Our peaceful protest will continue for 72 hours against the state government’s inability to tackle the violence. Why is chief minister Mamata Banerjee not calling paramilitary forces?” said Majumdar.
Trinamool Congress general secretary Kunal Ghosh called the BJP’s protest “a drama to hog the limelight.”
No fresh incident was reported from Howrah. “Fifty people have been arrested till Sunday. We have registered first information report (FIR) in each of the incidents that were reported,” said the district’s new superintendent of police Praveen Tripathi. “Police are patrolling every area.”\
Leader of the opposition in the Bengal assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, tried to travel to Howrah but was stopped when he was leaving Tamluk in East Midnapore district.
“This is a violation of my fundamental rights,” Adhikari alleged, adding that he will move the Calcutta high court on Monday. He eventually came to Kolkata and joined the sit-in demonstration at the Maidan.
TMC’s Kunal Ghosh brushed aside the complaint. “BJP leaders are trying to outdo each other to get media coverage.”
