DALANGHATA COMMUNAL RIOT on 14 JULY
A police jeep torched by the local Jihadis at Hotuganj
Islamic Jihad in action in West Bengal, police van fleeing
Police and the Jihadi with bomb in hand. This policeman got seriously injured by this bomb
Ransaced Radha Krishna Temple of Bagaria village
Broken Deity in pond. Photos by Br. Upananda
DALANGHATA COMMUNAL RIOT on 14 JULY In Dalanghata near Diamond Harbour, Rath Festival was in full swing on 13 July. Huge crowd was there. Muslim youths were misbehaving with Hindu girls. This is a regular feature in this district of South 24 Parganas. One Hindu girl of Bahadurpur slapped a Muslim boy for molesting her. The matter was sorted out. Next one Muslim boy of Berandari village stole 2 saplings from one nursery shop owned by a Hindu. Mela committee volunteers caught him and thrashed him. The Muslims targeted 2 Hindu boys. The Muslims abducted those 2 boys in the dark of night and took them to Muslim dominated Fakirpara. Mela Committee informed the police, rushed to Fakirpara and rescued the Hindu boys with the help of police. The Muslims could not tolerate this. The Muslims broke some tiles of the urinal of the village mosque, scattered them, poured some filth inside the mosque. Then they started announcing from the microphone of the mosque that Hindus have attacked and broken the Fakirpara Mosque. From mosques of other villages too this rumour was being spread, e.g, Dakshin Berandari, Heliagachhi, Chandipur, Ektara, Hotuganj and Juaru. From early morning of 14 July, about 3.00 am, huge Muslim crowd gathered in Fakirpara. After morning Namaz, they started rampaging. They started ransacking Hindu shops in Jamberia Golabari, Dharapur and Hotuganj. They destroyed 2 Hindu temples in Jamberia Golabari and Bagaria. At 9 am, police arrived at Fakirpara and encircled the mosque. The Muslim mob then blocked the Hotuganj crossing of the Kakdwip Road at about 10 am. They forced the Hindu shops to close down. Sufficient quantity of country made bombs and stones were with them. A large number of Muslim criminals with fire arms were brought in from Lalpur and Magrahat. The notorious criminal Salim led them. All office goers and students were barred to attend their offices and schools. More than 50 buses and jeeps have been broken and damaged. Passengers were scared. It was a mayhem. At 11 am police reached Hotuganj. They tried to remove the obstruction on road. Clashes started with police. The Muslim mob stoned the police heavily. The O.C. of Dimond Harbour P.S. Sanjib Banerjee got seriously injured. Other 8 police persons too have been injured. One police jeep has been totally torched. One police wireless phone set was snatched away. Police had to fire in blank for self protection. Police lathicharged and used tear gas. Then RAF came to the spot. Prohibitory order Section 144 imposed. Somehow situation brought under control. Police arrested about 20 Muslim miscreants. But all were released after all party meeting at afternoon. Clashes spread over many villages like Kochuberia, Shyam Bosur Chak and Kulpi. The whole Diamond Harbour sub division is tense. The District Magistrate of South 24 Pargana Mr. Khalil Ahmed role was absolutely partisan and communal, whereas the role of the Superintendent of Police of the district Mr. Lakshmi Narayan Meena has been impartial. |
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