The Indian state of West Bengal has been rocked by protests following the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl. The child's body was recovered from a pond on Sunday, a day after her family reported her missing.
The incident in Surjyapur village in Baruipur, on the outskirts of Kolkata, has triggered days of violent protests, the lynching of an innocent man, and the police killing of one of the suspects. Three other arrested men remain in custody.
The rape and murder, along with the subsequent killing of the suspect, has escalated into a major political row. Opposition parties accuse the newly-elected Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of failing to protect women.
Family members last saw the girl on Saturday afternoon when she went out to buy a birthday gift for a friend. When she didn't return, they approached the police station around 8:30 PM.
The family and villagers allege that the police did not take their pleas seriously and said they would look into it the next day. Desperate, they reviewed CCTV footage from nearby shops and spotted her walking with local man Prabhash Mondal.
Early Sunday morning, a mob went to Mondal's house, caught him, and handed him over to police. Hours later, a sack containing the girl's body was pulled from the pond, with reports saying Mondal led police to the exact spot.
The post-mortem report lists drowning as the cause of death, leading to claims she was alive when dumped. "Had the police acted earlier, she could have been saved," relatives said.
The government has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the case. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari met the victim's family and assured them of justice.
The discovery of the body sparked violent protests, with a mob vandalizing roads, shops, and a local railway station. A young man was beaten to death by the crowd, whom Adhikari later said was innocent. Several police officers were injured and vehicles damaged.
The area remains tense with a ban on public gatherings and heavy police and paramilitary deployment. The unrest poses a major challenge for the BJP, which swept to power in West Bengal for the first time in May, campaigning heavily on women's safety.
The case has also become mired in political controversy and threatens to take on religious overtones, as the victim was Muslim while the arrested men are Hindus. A local BJP leader's home was attacked and ransacked by a mob.
To contain public anger, Chief Minister Adhikari visited the village on Tuesday and met the victim's family. "Our government is committed to curb any such incidents in the state. The police is doing what needs to be done," he said.
Less than 24 hours later, Prabhash Mondal was killed in a "police encounter." Baruipur police stated that Mondal was taken to the pond to recreate the crime scene but attempted to snatch a weapon from a policeman and opened fire. Police retaliated, striking him, and he was declared dead at the hospital.
Although no allegations had been proven against Mondal, his mother disowned him and refused to accept his body. "Two policemen came to my house. They told me my son had died and asked if I wanted to go to the hospital. I said no because my husband was ill," she told news agency ANI.
Opposition politicians and rights activists have questioned the killing, calling it a violation of the rule of law. Ranjit Sur of the Association for the Protection of Democratic Rights called the matter "suspicious," noting that police encounter stories in many states follow a similar pattern.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk