Police arrested 18 people on Thursday in connection with a violent mob agitation the night before that held seven judicial officers hostage for eight hours in West Bengal’s Malda even as fresh protests broke out across four districts against the controversial deletion of names under the special intensive revision (SIR).
Maulana Muhammad Shahjahan Ali Qadri, the Indian Secular Front (ISF) candidate from the Mothabari assembly seat in Malda district, was arrested along with 17 others, including his two sons, on charges of disturbing peace, obstructing government staff from discharging duty, destroying public property, among other charges.
Seven judicial officers, two of whom were women, were trapped inside the office of the Mothabari 2 block development officer from 4 pm to 10 pm, until police escorted them out. An eighth officer, a woman, was stranded in her car on the road to the BDO’s office. Outside the office, a thousands-strong mob had gathered, shouting anti-ECI slogans, specifically naming Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.
Local roads and NH-12 were blocked at several locations and stones pelted at the vehicles carrying the judicial officers to safety.
The agitators started gathering from 11 am but their numbers swelled 4 pm onwards. When the judicial officers tried to leave after work around 6 pm, they found the building completely surrounded and the roads blocked. Although some local police and central paramilitary force personnel were present at the spot but allegedly no force was used.
“Amid allegations of administrative delay, a bigger police contingent arrived at the BDO’s office around 10 pm after the Calcutta high court chief justice reportedly sent directions to the state administration,” a district administrative officer said, requesting anonymity. “We later came to know that some of the stranded judicial officers called up high court judges.”
“The mob started dispersing after the police requested the protesters to let the officers leave. Some of the local residents, however, tried to stop the convoys by placing bamboo poles and bricks on the road,” he added.
Protests reach SC
Even as the controversy over Wednesday night’s protests reached the Supreme Court and triggered a National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe, fresh agitations started on Thursday at Mothabari, Kaliachak, Sujapur and Old Malda areas of Malda, various parts of Murshidabad, Maynaguri in Jalpaiguri district and Mathabhanga in Cooch Behar district bordering Bangladesh.
Despite the huge presence of CAPF, roads were blocked by burning car tyres and tree trunks, officials said. A police officer from Malda district said, “Most of the protestors are Muslims. They did not carry the flags of political parties, making it impossible for us to understand their background.”
To lift a blockade at Malda’s Mangalbari on Thursday, additional district magistrate Sheikh Ansar Ahmed reached the spot and warned the protestors of consequences. “Arrested on charges of organising the agitation, the ISF candidate, Maulana Muhammad Shahjahan Ali Qadri, and 17 others were remanded in police custody for 10 days by the Malda district court on Thursday afternoon,” a state police official said.
The ISF candidate said that he was framed. “I have been framed because I am an ISF candidate. I was not even at the spot where the agitation was held. I was returning from a cultural event when police arrested me on the road,” he told the media outside Malda court.
In Murshidabad and Malda, the Muslim populations are 66.28% and 52.27% respectively — the state’s highest, according to the 2011 census.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee campaigned in several parts of Murshidabad and Malda on Thursday for the two-phase polls to be held on April 23 and 29. She alleged that most of those deleted from the voters’ list were Muslims and the number of names deleted or sent for adjudication is the highest in the two districts. “They have deleted 40,000 names in my Bhawanipore constituency as well but I will fight and win,” said Banerjee at Malda’s Baishnabnagar. “I am no longer in charge of maintaining law and order. Amit Shah has taken that away. I was not even informed about the Mothabari incident. There is a conspiracy to create a disturbance and order President’s rule in Bengal before the elections. I urge people not to fall for any provocation. Don’t indulge in any sort of violence,” Banerjee told voters.
In Kolkata, where agitations were held outside the CEO’s office on March 31, officials said two TMC councillors from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Sachin Singh and Shanti Ranjan Kundu, were named in the first information report (FIR). An officer from the CEO’s office said ECI issued orders to arrest those involved in the March 31 agitation. No arrests were made till Thursday evening.
The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Suvendu Adhikari, who is contesting against the chief minister at Bhawanipore, alleged that the TMC backed the agitations.
“There have been planned attempts to create unrest ever since the roll revision process started. What happened to the judges in Malda is alarming. Local TMC leaders were involved. The plans were hatched by TMC leaders in Kolkata,” Adhikari said.
About the Author
