Kolkata: Protests against Bharatiya Janata Party leaders’ comments against Prophet Mohammed spread from West Bengal’s Howrah district to the northern Nadia and Murshidabad districts through the course of June 12, Sunday. As many as 100 people have been arrested, says police.
A mob attacked and damaged a local train at Bethuadahari railway station in Nadia district on Sunday evening. Another group vandalised the Dhubulia railway station in the same district.
Some employees of the station and passengers of the Krishnagar-Lalgola local train were injured, an official of the Eastern Railway said.
Bethuadahari
A gathering of over 1,000 demonstrators in Bethuadahari threw stones, damaged houses and tried to block roads, police have said.
Upon being chased by police, a section ran inside the Bethuadahari railway station and attacked a train which was waiting on a platform there. Train services in that line were disrupted for around two hours due to the incident.
Ten people have been detained in connection with the incident which happened at around 6.05 pm, a police officer told the news agency PTI. Railway police have been deployed in the area.
An Eastern Railway official said the train was badly damaged in the attack.
Howrah
Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC remain in several areas of Howrah which saw arson and stone pelting for over two days, especially in the Panchla region.
Also read: Violence Amidst Curfew in Bengal’s Howrah; ‘Some Political Parties Want Riots,’ Says CM
Howrah City Police Commissioner Praveen Tripathi and Howrah (Rural) SP Swati Bhangalia took stock of the situation and the roadblock by protestors in Barewa.
“The area is peaceful. We have police presence all over the place and patrolling is being done. I will appeal to the people to maintain peace and law and order. We are alert. We have lodged FIRs in every matter which has happened, conducted raids and arrested people. We have senior officers posted there,” Tripathi said.
Police have so far arrested over 100 people from these places in connection with their alleged links to the riots witnessed in the state since Friday, a police officer said.
BJP
In Purba Medinipur district, high drama lasted at Tamluk for two hours as police prevented the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in state Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP from visiting violence-hit areas of Howrah amidst curfew orders. Adhikari engaged in heated arguments with police officers present at the Radharani More where he was stopped, stating that he wanted to have lunch and take rest at a guest house in Kolaghat in Purba Medinipur district, before proceeding to Kolkata.
BJP leaders, including state president Sukanta Majumdar and state leader Priyanka Tibrewal , had been attempting to reach Howrah since Saturday, June 11.
Police have said that theirs visits could cause law and order problems there. Adhikari said he would move court on Monday against this.
After he was allowed to proceed, Adhikari straightaway went to the site of Majumdar’s sit-in demonstration against the alleged failure of the Mamata Banerjee government in containing violent incidents in Howrah.
BJP workers block the NH-512 during their protest over arrest of partys West Bengal unit President Sukanta Majumdar, when he tried to visit violence-hit Howrah district, at Balurghat in South Dinajpur district, Saturday, June 11, 2022. Photo: PTI
Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar has also sought an update from Chief Secretary H.K. Dwivedi over Adhikari not having been allowed to visit Howrah.
Section of Muslim clerics issue statement
Stating that people cannot be held to ransom by violence, an association of Muslim clerics on Sunday night urged chief minister Mamata Banerjee not to grant permission to any more rallies to protest against the comments on Prophet Mohammad by two BJP leaders.
The Bengal Imams Association also asked members of the community not to fall into the traps of “vested interests and indulge in violence.”
President of the association Mohmmad Yahia said in a video statement,”While the comments of Nupur Sharma and another BJP leader are unacceptable and we are awaiting administrative action, we cannot hold people of the state to ransom by violent protests that are taking place in pockets of Howrah, Murshidabad and Nadia districts. Setting on fire properties and pelting the police with stones and being lathi-charged by the police cannot boost the image of a devoutly religious man or his icon.”
(With PTI inputs)