2 days ago
‘For 2 hrs, no cops came to rescue': Residents recount violent afternoon
'I was sitting in our cake shop when suddenly a mob came and started pelting stones. I was hit and started bleeding. However, I waited for the mob to leave… Only then was I rushed to the hospital,' 25-year-old Rakesh Shaw, with three stitches on his head, recounted Wednesday's clash at Rabindranagar in Maheshtala area in South 24 Parganas district on the outskirts of Kolkata that left five cops injured.
Residents complained that the clash began in the vicinity of the police station and yet led to widespread vandalism till Nadiyal, which falls in the Kolkata Police jurisdiction.
'For close to two hours, hundreds of people kept throwing stones targeting our houses. Imagine this happened when the police station is in the vicinity. For two hours, no police came to save us,' said 63-year-old resident Ramjanki Mahato.
According to the residents, violence started just outside a temple, adjacent to the Rabindranagar Police Station. They said a physically-challenged Muslim youth, who had been selling fruits on a cart at that spot, was asked to shift, citing the expansion of the temple. For over a month, people involved with temple work had been asking the vendor to leave, but he did not pay heed.
This time, on Bakrid, the vendor returned to his house in Nadiyal. As soon as he left, a group of people planted a Tulsi plant at the spot. 'When he returned and saw the Tulsi plant surrounded by small brick boundaries, it led to a brawl. Soon, a mob came to support the fruit vendor. The matter escalated and the mob started pelting stones and bricks,' said Arvind Balo, a resident of Rabindranagar.
However, Muslim residents of the area said that those involved in the violence had come from Amritala, Kankhayli, Hazratan, Lalpore, Ayubnagar, and Nayabasti areas.
'Those who attacked houses and cars were all from the Nadiyal side; none of them were local. It would have been a matter of a few minutes had police acted promptly,' says Najimuddin Laskar, a resident of Kankhuly area. Abdul Alam, a shop owner, also said no local Muslims were involved in the clash.'
The remains of the violent Wednesday afternoon were still visible on the streets strewn with stones and bricks, ransacked electric cars, vandalised shops, and charred motorbikes.
The stone-pelting and brick-batting started from outside Rabindranagar Police Station. The mob then reached Akra Fatakbazar market and started looking for those who had planted the Tulsi plant, said residents.
Brijmohan, the brother of Hari Mohan Singh, who has been named in the FIR, said: 'My brother was earlier in TMC. This Tulsi plant came up on June 8 when my brother was not here. A mob of around a thousand people attacked our shop, and several vehicles in the area were vandalised.'
On Thursday, shops remained shut in the area as tension simmered.
Sweety Kumari reports from West Bengal for The Indian Express. She is a journalist with over a decade of experience in the media industry. Covers Crime, Defence, Health , Politics etc and writes on trending topics.
With a keen eye for investigative and human-interest stories. She has honed her craft across diverse beats including aviation, health, incidents etc. Sweety delivers impactful journalism that informs and engages audiences.
Sweety Kumari is a graduate of Calcutta University with an Honors degree in Journalism from Jaipuria College and a PG in Mass Communication from Jadavpur University. Originally from Bihar, she is brought up in Kolkata and completed her education from Kendriya Vidyalaya SaltLake. Multilingual, Sweety is fluent in English, Hindi, Bengali, and Maithili. She started her career as an Entertainment and lifestyle journalist with a newsportal in Kolkata. She is working with The Indian Express for 8 years now. ... Read More
