Bengal encounters: Agnimitra Paul’s poem sparks questions over police action | Political Pulse News
The killing of two accused in separate encounters with police in West Bengal in a day earlier this week – which marked the third such police encounter killing since the BJP stormed to power in the state in May this year – has prompted a poem from a state minister and heaps of praises from other ministers.
Such bids by the Suvendu Adhikari-led BJP government to take a “tough line” against crimes in the state have come, even as the Opposition and human rights bodies have criticised it, raising questions over the circumstances surrounding the police ecounters.
The Tuesday encounters took place in Gaighata and Samserganj. In Gaighata, a man killed in police action in the early hours was identified as Prahlad Das, who was an accused in the rape and murder of a minor girl. In Samserganj, Samiul Sheikh, an accused in the murder of a local BJP leader, was killed in the police encounter.
State Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Minister Agnimitra Paul has now posted a poem, titled “Encounter”, on Facebook. While she did not explicitly refer to police action, the timing of her post suggested that it was in response to the Tuesday incidents.
In the opening lines of her poem, written in Bangla, Paul called for an end to crime and said people should be able to live in peace. She also expressed hope that the “darkness of fear” would now disappear and that those responsible for public safety would prevent the recurrence of various atrocities.
In the second stanza, Paul wrote that there could be no compromise with injustice and that firm action against crime was necessary. Acknowledging the difficulty of decision-making in challenging circumstances, she stated that courage came at a cost but stressed that nothing was more important than public safety.
In the concluding lines, Paul called for the state to stand by the people and for peace to return to every household. She also said there could be no compromise on public safety and that firmness was necessary to curb crimes.
Her poem came out amid Chief Minister Adhikari’s assertion that the police had been given a “free hand” to tackle two major concerns — crimes against women and narcotics trafficking – in the state.
Ministers hail police action
Minister of State for Industry Moumita Biswas Mishra also backed the police action, describing it as a reflection of the change the BJP government had promised.
“This is what change in Bengal looks like. This is the change people wanted,” she said.
Mishra alleged that women had been denied safety during the years preceding the BJP government, criticising both the Left Front regime and the previous Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in this regard. She claimed that crimes had not been adequately investigated during the Left Front rule, alleging that the previous governments had frequently played down criminal incidents.
Referring to the BJP government’s approach, Mishra said Adhikari had made it clear after taking oath that hooliganism and the humiliation of women would not be tolerated. “The people of West Bengal have seen that today,” she said, reiterating the government’s stated “zero-tolerance” policy.
Panchayat Minister Dilip Ghosh, responding to a question about the Gaighata encounter, referred to a similar incident in Baruipur in South 24 Parganas district a few months ago.
“An incident like this had happened before as well, in South 24 Parganas. A murderer was fleeing. There was an encounter. Here too (in Gaighata), it has happened,” Ghosh said.
He said those committing serious crimes must be prepared to face the consequences, while also asserting that everyone must be brought to justice and that no one was above the law. “If someone disobeys the law, the same thing will happen to them,” he said.
Arguing that the police have a responsibility to ensure justice, Ghosh said public trust in the force needed to be restored. “If trust is to be restored, the police will have to do some unpleasant things,” he added.
The main accused in the rape and murder of a minor girl in Baruipur was killed in a police encounter in July, when he allegedly snatched a policeman’s firearm and opened fire during a reconstruction of the crime scene.
According to the police, the accused in both Gaighata and Samserganj encounters were similarly killed in “retaliatory firing” after they attempted to escape custody by “snatching firearms from the personnel escorting them and opening fire at the police”.
Opposition hits out
The Opposition, however, castigated the BJP dispensation, questioning the circumstances surrounding the police encounters.
Senior MLA of the Mamata Banerjee faction of the TMC, Shobhandeb Chattopadhyay, said an encounter might generate publicity but stressed that the country has a legal system. He also pointed out that the Mamata Banerjee government had initiated amendments to the law to ensure speedy punishment in the rape cases.
CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty questioned how the accused could have managed to snatch firearms from the police.
The Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR), a human rights organisation, also expressed concern over the Gaighata incident. In a statement, its vice-president, Ranjit Shur, questioned the circumstances under which the accused had been taken for a crime-scene reconstruction at midnight.
“Taking the prisoner for a reconstruction of the incident at midnight is highly suspicious. That too with the prisoner’s hands left untied,” he said, questioning how the accused had managed to snatch a police revolver.
