Family seeks capital punishment

Talking to The Indian Express, the minor’s grandfather said, “No one could imagine such a young girl being tortured like that… She was known to everyone in the locality for her smiling face and talkative nature.”

Talking about the incidents which unfolded on Saturday, he said, “Everybody saw her going with an autorickshaw-van puller. Our neighbours identified those persons [the accused] by seeing the CCTV footage. Even after that, the police did not take proper action. They only sent a message to the nearby police camp. They didn’t even send a police force.”

One of the three arrested accused, Ananda Sardar was a rickshaw-van puller associated with the family’s business.

Former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee participates in a candlelight protest rally in south Kolkata (Express Photo)

The grandfather added, “The Chief Minister called us twice and ensured justice…All we want is that the accused should be hanged. We also want punishment for the police personnel who did not react after my son filed a missing person complaint at Baruipur police station.”

Heavy police deployed to pacify angry crowd

Since Monday morning, the local administration has imposed restrictions on huge gatherings in Baruipur and its neighbouring Sonarpur and Narendrapur areas to prevent any untoward incident. Heavy force has also been deployed in the area to keep the situation under control.

Despite that, visible anger against the administration was seen in Baruipur. Hundreds of people gathered in the main market area, demanding justice and seeking the suspension of the police personnel who allegedly did not promptly initiate an investigation to find the missing girl.

“Everybody knew that girl for her smiling face. I am also a father, I have a 14-year-old daughter. I could not even imagine how such a young child like her could be raped and murdered. We searched for her with her family the entire night. Only one police personnel from the nearby police camp joined us in our search,” said a neighbour of the bereaved family.

He further added, “When we found the body dumped in a pond early Sunday morning, only then did the police force come.”

The youth lynched

Upon going through the CCTV footage, locals identified one person who was detained and later arrested on Sunday.

According to a local resident, “Hundreds of people started gathering in the market area after hearing the news. We identified a person and caught him. From him, some youth came to know that one Indrajit Mondol, who is an auto-driver, helped the abductor carry the child in his autorickshaw. After that the mob gheraoed his house and dragged him out around 10 am.”

Mondol was lynched to death in front of his house Sunday morning over allegations of being seen with the accused.

At Indrajit’s house, his mother Anima claims her son was innocent.

She told The Indian Express, “My son did not know anything about the incident. He returned to our house around 8pm on Saturday and remained inside. But a mob of 200-300 people came here in the morning, and without even letting him speak, started beating him.”

“They killed my son…,” she cried out. “Believe me, my son was innocent.”

BJP leader’s house ransacked

The angry mob also ransacked the house of a local BJP leader, Santanu Mondol. He was accused of helping one of the accused abscond from police custody.

One of Mondol’s neighbour said, “Over 1,000 angry people came here last night and ransacked his house for at least an hour. However, Santanu and his parents had fled away before that. We did not come out as we couldn’t stop an angry mob.”

Santanu was a known BJP leader in the area, the neighbour added, claiming that local TMC leaders had threatened him many times during the recent Assembly polls.

“Santanu told us that he only went to help the family and had no intention to help the accused escape police custody… This is a heinous crime, and not just her family but all of us want the culprits to be hanged. However, we think Santanu would not be involved in such an incident,” the neighbour added.