Who can stop cattle smuggling in Basirhat?

Not Bengal government indubitably

Basirhat is in headlines once more and as expected, for both wrong and usual reasons only. On April 23, in the night a fierce accident between a matador and a vehicle loaded with cattle led to injury of 15 people and 8 of them have already been transferred to the SSKM hospital in Kolkata and all of them, as per last reports, are in critical conditions yet. According to police and also locals, the lorry or vehicle loaded with a large number of cows was moving towards Basirhat while the matador was coming from there. Both vehicles were in high speed and collided soon. The aggrieved mob ransacked the lorry virtually and when police reached the spot, the entire police team had to deal with a strong protest. On the word of aggrieved villagers, the entire area, thanks to tacit support of local police and administration, has turned into a free zone for cattle smugglers and this saga has been going on for years. Cattle smugglers have become kingpins in the area and if anyone dares to protest, the person is either beaten hollow or hacked to death even. Locals asked police to adopt strong measures or else a people’s movement against all these illegal acts will unsettle the entire administrative scenario.        

Is the local administration capable to adopt tough measures? The answer is no and this assessment is not abrupt at all; scores of sordid experiences and hundreds of such incidents along with perception of police’s surrender to the nexus of cattle smuggling makes the scribe to deduce such. Administration in Basirhat does not belong to any particular political party but to smugglers with the power to win over anyone or even a dissident by large baits of money. Hindus living in Swarupnagar in Basirhat can narrate their own story or how they have become victims to cattle smugglers. In the year 2012, Kalu Ghosh and Debu Ghosh, two brothers living in the village of Baltighoshpara, within Swarupnagar police station’s jurisdiction protested against cattle smuggling but were thrashed by local activists of Trinamool Congress with cow smugglers in Baltibazar. Their houses were also ransacked. Robin Roy living in the village of Koijari within the same police station’s jurisdiction had the same fate. Muslim cow smugglers were using the lane before his house for an easy transportation and at every time, his housed used to be get damaged. Once when he protested, Robin was assaulted highly. Even Hindu women in his family were also not spared; cow smugglers attempted to rape them but the situation was saved as a large number of Hindus hearing the noise (women raised an alarm) rushed to the spot.      

Arindam Bagchi, another Hindu living in village of Mallikpur also raised a vehement protest against this intolerable smuggling of cows from different parts of India across the India-Bangladesh international border. Arindam was beaten so heavily that his family members were forced to take him to a nearby hospital. There is no difference in 2014 and to be precise, the situation has worsened. The detention and release of Abdul Barik Biswas on bail, known to have a property worth 100 crore based on this trade, of late exposes how Basirhat is vulnerable to cattle smuggling. He, himself has already stated smugglers of cattle have entered into the field of gold and this happens to be more profitable to them. Who can end cattle smuggling in Basirhat?

Hindu Samhati regularly monitors and reports violations against Hindus in West Bengal. We also work with both governmental and NGO agencies for proper education on protection and ensure remedies to the Hindu populace as per prevailing law of the land.