“We kept calling the police after the attacks started. No one answered. Even after they hacked my husband and father-in-law to death, the bodies lay near our house for three hours,” said 32-year-old Pinki Das, clutching her six-year-old daughter who was seated on her lap, on Sunday.
Das was barely able to speak, appearing to lose consciousness briefly in between. On Friday, her husband Chandan Das (40) and her father-in-law Hargobind Das (70) were hacked to death by a mob as protests in West Bengal against the new Waqf (Amendment) Act turned violent in Murshidabad district.
The father and son were among the three killed in the violence Friday, and at least 15 policemen were injured. Later, the Calcutta High Court ordered the deployment of Central Armed Forces in the affected areas. According to the state government, over 150 people have been arrested so far.
“Who will give me justice? How will we live now?” asked Pinki, recalling the “terrifying” moments when her home, in Jafrabad village under the Samserganj police station, was ransacked.
About 20 km away, Pinki’s questions echoed in another house in the Gazipur area of Kashimnagar village, under the Suti police station. “I want justice. My husband was so young,” said Selima Bibi, holding her only child, a two-year-old daughter. Selima’s husband, 21-year-old Ejaz Ahmed, was killed allegedly in police firing at the Sajurmore crossing on NH 12, a 10-minute drive from her house, amid Friday’s protests.
When The Indian Express visited Pinki’s house, it came across significant damage to the property: the main door and windows were broken, and the rooms inside ransacked. According to local residents, this village bore the brunt of Friday’s violence. This newspaper saw rows of houses that were targeted with stones; three houses and the vehicles of several residents, including cars and motorbikes, were torched.
Sraboni Das (24), a member of the Tinpukuria gram panchayat where Pinki’s village is situated, said the mob set fire to her house, too, after they failed to break in. “We are fearful and don’t know whether we will ever be able to live here again,” said Das, a local Congress leader.
On Sunday, Samserganj TMC MLA Amirul Islam and BJP’s block convener Uttam Kumar Das were standing together near Pinki’s house. “Those who did this are animals. We stand with the family,” said Islam. “A large number of Hindu houses and shops were vandalised, looted and set on fire. This happened in many other villages, too,” said Das.
According to Pinki, groups of “young men” started roaming the village “from around 10 am on Friday, hurling crude bombs and throwing stones at houses”. “They attacked our house four times. Finally, they managed to break open the wooden door,” she said.
“While some of them started to ransack the house, room by room, a group caught hold of my father-in-law and took him outside. Then, they grabbed my husband. They hacked them both to death. I begged (the attackers), held their feet, but they threatened to kill me,” said Pinki, who also has two sons aged 16 and 11.
“We were helpless. I took the children to the terrace and hid there. Now, the children are looking for their father and grandfather,” said Parul Das, Pinki’s mother-in-law, adding that Chandan was a mason and her husband a farmer who owned “a few bighas” of land.
At Selima’s home, meanwhile, a huge crowd had gathered outside on Sunday. “No politician, no policemen visited our home after the death. At the hospital, we were told that the body would be handed over after post mortem,” said Shahid Sheikh, Ejaz’s uncle.
According to Selima, Ejaz was all set to leave for Chennai, where he worked in a hotel, on Sunday. “He had come home for Eid on March 28. On Friday morning, he visited an uncle in Islampur. While returning home, he was caught in the chaos at Sajurmore. Someone called us from there and said he had been shot by the police,” she said.
A group of local residents took Ejaz to the Jangipur hospital nearby and then to the Murshidabad general hospital where he succumbed to injuries. “Ejaz lived with his father, mother, wife and daughter. On Thursday night, we had a picnic with him. He loved football. On Friday, we heard he was shot dead,” said Odudh Sheikh (22), a childhood friend of Ejaz.
The three deaths were confirmed by senior police officers. Meanwhile, a huge contingent of police, Rapid Action Force and BSF patrolled the Sajurmore crossing on Sunday. Near them, lying by the roadside, were the charred reminders of Friday: a government bus, two police jeeps and several motorbikes.