Mamata pulls up Bengal police for violence, rape cases

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday lambasted the police force stating that their "negligence” has led to incidents of violence and rape in various places of the state for which the state government has had a loss of face.

Facing criticism for the incidents, she pulled up senior police officers saying that their sources have failed in providing them with inputs leading to such incidents at Bogtui in Birbhum district and Hanskhali in Nadia district.

Nine people, mostly women, were burnt alive at Bogtui village shortly after a local Trinamool Congress leader was murdered last month. At Hanskhali, a minor girl was allegedly raped by the son of a local TMC leader and she died probably due to blood loss earlier this month. Her body was cremated without a post-mortem examination or death certificate.

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On the orders of the Calcutta High Court, the CBI is investigating the cases.

Speaking at an administrative review meeting at the state secretariat, Banerjee asked the police officers of the districts to use journalists in the districts as their sources since “they have a better network and good contacts”.

“Why did the Hashkhali incident take place in the first place? You (police) have no source. Why should the government have a loss of face because of your negligence? The government wants to take action against the culprits without seeing their political colour,” she said while speaking to the police officers of Nadia district and Krishnanagar and Ranaghat police districts.

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Banerjee, who is also the police minister, wondered why the Hanskhali girl's family did not provide any information to the police initially.

The chief minister told Birbhum SP Nagendra Tripathi that the Bogtui incident could have been avoided had the then additional SP of the area shown some proactiveness.

“This has happened completely because of your negligence. There can be retaliation for an incident. There are several mistakes," she told Tripathi.

Referring to the death of a class 12 student of 'Patha Bhavana', a school under Visva-Bharati university, Banerjee asked the DGP to keep a check on the law and order in Birbhum district.

She advised senior police officers to visit police stations regularly to keep a tab on the law and order in the area.

The CM appealed to the media to telecast news responsibly saying she has often initiated action based on their reports.

She asked the Siliguri Police in north Bengal to look into an alleged attempt by the mafia trying to build a bridge demolishing the house of the late Naxal leader Kanu Sanyal.

“Why don't you have that information? Where is your intelligence? Immediately arrest those who are trying to encroach land,” she said.

Banerjee said that a proposal would soon be brought to incorporate Naxalbari and Fasidewa with the Siliguri Police Commissionerate from Darjeeling Police District.

The chief minister also asked the police not to let anybody incite communal tension and break the prevailing peaceful situation in Darjeeling.

Banerjee, also the TMC supremo, said that a monitoring cell would be set up to check the authenticity of FIRs lodged.

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