Section 144 lifted from violence-hit Birbhum

The West Bengal police have withdrawn Section 144 from violence-ridden Birbhum, 11 days after clashes broke out ostensibly between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the area.

The Makra clashes, ostensibly for territorial control between the Trinamool and the BJP, which killed at least three people, happened despite Section 144 being in place in the region. On an earlier occasion, the police had stopped a fact-finding team of BJP from entering the affected Makra village when they were on their way to meet the victims.

Due to prohibitory orders imposed under Section 144, the police had detained the delegation comprising of Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, MPs Kirti Azad, Udit Raj and state BJP president Rahul Sinha from entering the affected area. A Congress delegation reportedly was also stopped by the police while it was trying to enter the village.

The West Bengal government announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh on Saturday for the family of each of those killed in the political clash on 27 October. The clashes came days after three policemen including Panrui police station chief Prasenjit Dutta were injured when miscreants hurled bombs at them during a raid at a village health centre from where a huge stock of crude bombs was recovered. ‘Senior police and administrative officers reviewed the situation in the area, following which it was decided to revoke the prohibitory orders that was first clamped on 24 October after the attack on the police team and later extended to Makra following the clashes,’ additional superintendent of police Ananda Roy said.