Kolkata:
A leader of Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress was involved in the violence in Murshidabad that broke out last month, says the report by a probe committee constituted by the Calcutta High Court. The attacks, which took place during the passage of the Waqf Amendment bill and sparked a huge political row, were directed at Hindus and when the beleaguered people called for help, the police failed to respond, the report said.
The report also highlighted indiscriminate arson and loot and relentless destruction of shops and malls.
“The attacks were directed by the local councillor Mehboob Alam… the local police was completely inactive and absent,” read the report, a copy of which was accessed by NDTV.
The main attack occurred on Friday, April 11, after 2.30 pm, when “Local councillor Mehboob Alam came with miscreants”. Residents of Samserganj, Hizaltala, Shiulitala, Digri came masking their face, the report said.
“Amirul Islam came, saw which houses were not attacked, and then the attackers set them ablaze… The villagers of Betbona telephoned, but the West Bengal Police did not respond… The MLA was also present. He saw the vandalism and went away,” the report said.
The attackers had cut off water connection so the fire could not be extinguished. 113 houses were the worst-affected in Betbona village, the report also said.
The homes are destroyed and “would not be habitable without thorough re-construction… the women of the village are afraid and have taken shelter with their relatives,” the report said.
On April 12, a man and his son from a Hindu family were killed by their Muslim neighbours, the report said. The violence that followed wiped out shops and markets in the area.
Grocery shops, hardware shops, electrical and textile stores were destroyed. So were the temples – all this happened within a 300-metre radius of the local poice station.
Twenty-nine shops were affected in Ghoshpara, Murshidabad. A shopping mall-style market was looted and closed, the report said.
The investigation team comprised members from the National Human Rights Commission, the state legal Services authority and the Judicial services. The report was submitted before a division bench of the high court today.
The panel had visited the villages and spoke to the victims of violence.
