Police arrested 18 people on Thursday in connection with the previous night’s violent mob agitation that held seven judicial officers hostage for eight hours in West Bengal’s Malda, even as fresh protests erupted in four districts against the controversial deletion of names under the Special Intensive Review (SIR).
Maulana Muhammad Shahjahan Ali Qadri, the Indian Secular Front’s candidate for the Mathabari assembly seat in Malda district, was arrested along with 17 others, including his two sons, on charges of disturbing the peace, obstructing government employees from discharging their duty, and destroying public property, among other charges.
Seven judicial employees, including two women, were detained inside the office of the development officer of the Mathbari Building 2 from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., until the police escorted them outside. An eighth officer, a woman, was stranded in her car on the road leading to the BDO office. Outside the office, a mob of thousands gathered, chanting slogans against the Election Commission of India, specifically naming Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.
Local roads and NH-12 were blocked at several locations and stones were pelted at vehicles carrying judicial officers to safety.
The agitators started gathering from 11 am but their numbers swelled from 4 pm onwards. When judicial officers tried to leave after work around 6 p.m., they found the building completely surrounded and the roads blocked. Although some local police and central paramilitary personnel were present at the scene, no force was used.
“Amid allegations of administrative delay, a larger police contingent reached the BDO office around 10 pm after the chief justice of the Calcutta High Court sent directions to the state administration,” said a district administrative official requesting anonymity. “We later learned that some stranded judicial officials had summoned the Supreme Court judges.”
He added: “The mob began to disperse after the police asked the protesters to allow the officers to leave. But some local residents tried to stop the convoys by placing bamboo poles and bricks on the road.”
Protests reach SC
Even as the controversy over Wednesday night’s protests reached the Supreme Court and sparked a probe by the National Investigation Agency, fresh agitations began on Thursday in Muthabari, Kalyachak, Sujapur and Old Malda areas in Malda, various parts of Murshidabad and Mainaguri in Jalpaiguri district and Mathabanga in Cooch Behar district bordering Bangladesh.
Despite the huge presence of CAPF civilian police forces, roads were blocked with burning tires and tree trunks, officials said. A police officer from Malda district said: “Most of the protesters are Muslims. They did not carry the flags of political parties, which makes it impossible for us to understand their background.”
To lift the blockade at Mangalbari in Malda on Thursday, Additional District Magistrate Sheikh Ansar Ahmed reached the spot and warned the protesters of consequences. “ISF candidate Maulana Muhammad Shahjahan Ali Qadri and 17 others were arrested on charges of organizing the agitation and were remanded in police custody for 10 days by the Malda district court on Thursday afternoon,” a state police official said.
The Internal Security Forces candidate said he was set up. “I was accused because I am a candidate for the Internal Security Forces. I was not even at the place where the protests took place. I was returning from a cultural event when the police arrested me on the road,” he told the media outside the Malda court.
In Murshidabad and Malda, the Muslim population is 66.28% and 52.27% respectively – the highest in the state, according to the 2011 census.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee campaigned in several parts of Murshidabad and Malda on Thursday to hold elections in two phases on April 23 and 29. It claimed that most of those deleted from the voter list were Muslims and that the number of names deleted or sent for adjudication was the highest in the two regions. “They have deleted 40,000 names in my Bhawanipur constituency as well, but I will fight and win,” said Banerjee from Bishnabnagar in Malda. “I am no longer responsible for maintaining law and order. Amit Shah has abandoned it. I was not even informed about the Muthabari incident. There is a conspiracy to create unrest and impose order on President’s rule in Bengal before the elections. I urge people not to fall for any provocation. Do not indulge in any kind of violence,” Banerjee told voters.
In Kolkata, where protests took place outside the CEO’s office on March 31, officials said two TMC councilors from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Sachin Singh and Shanti Ranjan Kundu, were named in the first information report (FIR). An officer from the CEO’s office said that Etihad Export Credit Company had issued arrest warrants for those involved in the events of March 31. No arrests had been made as of Thursday evening.
BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, who is contesting against the chief minister in Bhawanipur, alleged that the TMC supported the agitation.
“There have been planned attempts to create unrest since the roll review process began. What happened to the judges in Malda is worrying,” Adhikari said. Local TMC leaders participated. The TMC leaders have drawn up the plans in Kolkata.”
