Displaced come back home, TMC team visits kin of dead
Times of India | 21 April 2025
Dhuliyan: Two hundred and ninety-three families, who had crossed the Ganga to flee their homes in Murshidabad to take shelter in a school in Malda's Baishnabnagar, returned home on Sunday. The families, from violence-hit Bethbona and Dhuliyan, had been staying at Parlalpur High School, which had been converted to a relief camp.
A little over a week since the terrified villagers were forced to leave home and hearth, the school lies empty, Malda cops told TOI.
The "reverse exodus" happened the same day a Trinamool delegation, led by Jangipur MP Khalilur Rehman and Rajya Sabha MP Samirul Islam, visited the family members of Haragobindo Das and his son Chandan, eight days after a mob dragged the two men out of their Jafrabad home and hacked them to death.
Jangipur SP Ananda Roy, confirming the return, said families whose houses had not suffered damage would return home, while the others would be put up in a relief centre. "We will ensure round-the-clock security," Roy said.
At Kanchantala ghat in Murshidabad, cops were seen wading into the water to lend a hand to families getting off boats, even carrying an elderly woman. This was in sharp contrast to the atmosphere of the past two days, when families told Bengal governor C V Ananda Bose and representatives of National Human Rights Commission and National Commission for Women that they would not return, directing their anger at cops.
"On the night of April 12, we had to flee to save our lives," said a relieved Rekha Pramanik, who spoke to TOI on the phone. "We were told by village elders that the Baishnabnagar school was a safe place to stay and that we would be provided adequate food there. Today, senior police officers, local MPs and MLAs spoke to us and personally assured us of help and safety. We believed them and returned."
Her relative Sharmila Pramanik, who was also one of the returnees, said displaced families had been assured — more than once — of their safety at home. "We have also been promised help to rebuild our houses," she added.
The Jangipur SP, local MP Rehman, Shamsherganj MLA Amirul Islam and Farakka MLA Monirul Islam were at the ghat to help those who came back. Each family was transported home in e-rickshaws under police protection.
The Trinamoool delegation that visited the Murshidabad victims' family in Jafrabad spent more than 30 minutes speaking to the septuagenarian Horogobindo's widow, Rita, and Chandan's widow, Pompa. The family has refused a Rs 10 lakh monetary help extended by state govt. Samirul clarified that they were neither there as party netas, nor as MPs. "Politicians of all hues will come to you. They will come for a month at most, as long as they can exploit the issue," he said, adding, "We are locals and will be with you always."
Asked by Rita about the future of her grandchildren (Chandan's two sons and a daughter), Samirul said: "We (pointing at himself and Khalilur) will take care of it personally. We also assure you that we will all collectively ensure the harshest punishment for those found guilty."
Four people have been arrested till now for the two men's death. The latest to be held in this connection was prime accused Ziaul Sheikh (45), who was picked up from a hideout in Chopra on Saturday night. A total of 138 FIRs have been lodged so far, even as the total number of arrests for the overall violence has gone up to 289. Around Jafrabad, three CAPF camps are maintaining constant vigil, the SP said.