Around him stood four local residents, allegedly still beating him up. “I begged them to stop and spare him. They did not and continued to whip him with a tree branch. I rushed to call neighbours. When I returned, he was dead,” she says.
Prasen was one of the victims of a spate of recent mob lynchings in Bengal – all occurring after rumours of possible child-napping (bachha chor), or – as in Prasen’s case – phone snatching (mobile chor). Four people have been killed and 10 wounded in 13 such incidents in the state in a fortnight since June 19 – prompting the opposition to question the law and order in the state under the Trinamool Congress government.
The state government has responded by launching awareness campaigns to curb such incidents. Law enforcement agencies have launched social media drives and are distributing pamphlets in several districts.
So far, the cases have been reported from five places — North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Hooghly, Bardhaman, and Paschim Medinipur, all contiguous districts in the south part of the state.
According to police sources, the spate of such incidents possibly began after the body of an 11-year-old boy, who had been missing for five days, was found in an unused toilet near his home in North 24 Parganas – where the first incident was reported on June 19. The boy’s uncle, Anjib Nabi, was eventually arrested in connection with that incident.
“We suspect there is a connection between the incident and the rumours. The accused, to avoid suspicion, might have cooked up a story about kidnappers. We are probing this,” a senior police officer said.
Over 50 people have been arrested in connection with the various assault cases, with the Mamata Banerjee government announcing a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for the families of those lynched.
“Awareness drives have been going on for a week,” Kamanasish Sen, Superintendent of Police of Hooghly (Rural), says. “We have given out phone numbers of police stations and asked the public to contact us immediately if they see anything suspicious.”
In an address in the state assembly earlier this week, Speaker Biman Bandopadhyay blamed these occurrences on the Raj Bhavan’s reluctance to sign the West Bengal (Prevention of Lynching) Bill, 2019.
Passed by the assembly in 2019 and meant to act as a deterrent to mob lynching, the Bill is still pending approval from the Governor.
“The Bill should have been signed by the Governor. If it had been, we might not have seen mob lynching in Bengal,” Bandopadhyay told reporters.
But Opposition parties cited it as yet another example of the crumbling law and order in West Bengal. “Although the state has been seeing such incidents one after the other, police can’t seem to pin the culprits even with a telescope. Where are they? What precautions are being taken (to prevent this)? No one knows,” BJP state president and MP Sukanta Majumdar tells The Indian Express.
According to neighbours and the police, Prasen’s tormentors beat him throughout the night.
“The three who beat the boy are locals and knew him. By the time we reached in the morning, he was dead,” says a neighbour, Asima Sarkar.
Three people had been arrested in connection with the incident, a senior police officer at the Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate said.
In Prabhakarkati village under Amdanga police station in Barasat, 34-year-old Nehra Banu shows the scars on her body from an alleged mob assault on June 19. She and a female relative were looking for a restaurant in Kazipara when some people accosted them with allegations of being child-lifters (baccha chor). Despite their protests, the assault allegedly continued.
“I told them I’m a mother of two. But they didn’t listen… They used sticks and an iron wrench to beat me up,” says Nehra.
She was eventually rescued by the police and admitted to the Barasat state general hospital, where she spent five days. Eighteen people, including a woman, have been arrested in this case.
“They beat her up like she was an animal,” says Ansar Ali, Nehra’s 57-year-old father. “She’s still traumatised.”
Some 40 kilometres away, in Barrackpore’s Ruiapara, 35-year-old plumber Najir Hossain can barely walk. He has fractured ribs and legs and, although he needs a scan for confirmation, also suspects internal head injuries.
He was on his way home on June 21 when some youngsters accosted him near Chak Kathalia village, some 20 minutes from home.
“Suddenly they all shouted ‘bachha chor, bachha chor’ and started beating me up. I kept explaining that my house is close and that I could call my brothers. They didn’t listen and continued to beat me up with iron rods and sticks,” Najir says.
One person has been arrested in the incident.
In 37-year-old Irshad Alam’s house in Kolkata’s Belgachia area, there’s a pervasive sense of fear and loss. Alam, who worked at a TV repair shop in the city’s Chandni Chowk area, was lynched at a student hostel in Bowbazar on suspicion of mobile theft.
According to his 30-year-old wife Salma Bibi, he went to work on the morning of June 26 and never returned. “By evening we heard what happened. I went to the hospital but he was dead already.”
Fourteen people have been arrested in connection with this assault.
She is now left to fend for herself and her two children — a girl aged 11 and a boy aged 7. “How will I and my children live now? He was the only earning member. How will I pay rent and school fees.”
When contacted about the incidents in her district, Barasat SP Pratiksha Jharkharia said that the situation was under control.
“But incidents are happening in other areas. Therefore, we are continuing our awareness campaigns and are using loudspeakers in different areas to make people aware of such rumours,” she said, adding that a total of 35 people had been arrested over such incidents.
Similar measures are being taken in Jhargram, too, where one person died after being mistaken for a thief and assaulted on June 22. “Two people have been arrested and charged with murder (IPC Section),” Jhargram SP Arijit Sinha said.
On its part, the TMC believes that such awareness campaigns are vital to prevent these incidents.
“Our stand is clear,” Trinamool Congress spokesperson Arup Chakraborty says. “Zero tolerance for the culprits of such crime. Police are taking action against criminals without seeing any political colour. However, it’s also a fact that this is a social evil and awareness should be increased among the public.”
But experts say that while a stringent law is necessary, that by itself is insufficient.
“It will depend on how the law is implemented. In these cases, timely intervention of the police is necessary. But we have seen that the police and administration so far are very reluctant,” retired IPS officer and former chief of West Bengal Railway Police Adhir Sharma says.