Basanti OC tries to rein in irate mob, gets badly injured

The Officer-in-Charge of Basanti police station received severe injuries on his head when a mob pelted stones at the police protesting against the incident of rape and murder of a minor girl. It may be mentioned that the victim was missing from Saturday night. Her body with several injury marks was found in the house of one Altab Sardar from an adjacent village at late night on the same day.

Police had sent the body for an autopsy. The victim’s family members had lodged a complaint with the police in the wee hours on Sunday. It was alleged that despite repeated requests the police had not taken any action against the accused for hours.

The police had arrested Sardar and two other members of his family – Younus Sardar and Madira 

Bibi in this connection when local people staged a demonstration on Sunday.

On Monday the victim’s neighbours and local people once again gathered outside the police station and started shouting slogans demanding maximum punishment of the accused. They also protested against the incident and raised allegation of negligence on the part of the police in carrying out the investigation.

The situation turned worse when the policemen tried to disperse the mob. They turned irate and started pelting stones at the police. Before asking to deploy additional policemen to tackle the situation, the officer-in-charge (OC) of Basanti police station Kaushik Kundu went ahead to make the people understand that the police is doing their duty and the accused will be punished if they are proved to be guilty.

Someone from the mob pelted stone at the OC and it hit his head. He was bleeding profusely. His colleagues chased the agitators by raising their lathis and dispersed the mob. The OC was taken to hospital where he received necessary treatment.

Senior police officers from the police station later had a talk with the family members of the victim and assured that the police was carrying out an impartial inquiry and the accused will be punished if they are found guilty by the Court.