storm of protests<\/a> by angry mobs, who torched some vehicles, including government and police vans, and blocked a highway for a few hours. The girl\u2019s elder brother, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) booth president, alleged that Trinamool goons had committed the crime.<\/p>\nThe police released the post-mortem examination report that suggested the victim died of poisoning. But the BJP rubbished the report and said that it was doctored to suit the narrative of the Trinamool.<\/p>\n
Trinamool leaders echoed local Muslim community leaders who said that the girl and the prime accused, one Feroze Ali, were classmates and were having an affair. They said the girl consumed poison after a tiff with the boy.<\/p>\n
The girl\u2019s family lodged a police complaint against the boy and his family members and relatives. But the boy\u2019s body was found on Monday noon from a spot near the place where the girl\u2019s body was recovered from.<\/p>\n
The recovery of the boy\u2019s body generated tension with agitated Muslims alleging that the girl\u2019s family had killed the boy. But locals dismissed those allegations and pointed out that the police had combed the entire area a few times after the girl\u2019s body was found.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe boy\u2019s body was discovered from the banks of a waterbody that had been searched by the police and many local people repeatedly on Monday and also on Tuesday. So how come the body was suddenly found at the place that had already been searched? There is a deep conspiracy and foul play here,\u201d said a distant relative of the girl.<\/p>\n
After the recovery of the boy\u2019s body, his father lodged a formal complaint naming the girl\u2019s father and brothers for the alleged murder of his son. Acting on this complaint, the police arrested the girl\u2019s father and two brothers soon after they had cremated the girl on Tuesday noon.<\/p>\n
The arrests have incensed Hindus, especially the Rajbongshi community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe police arrested the girl\u2019s father and brothers only to appease the Muslims who were angry over the death of the boy. This is so unfair,\u201d said the girl\u2019s relative.<\/p>\n
District administration officials, who asked not to be named, said that the police acted on the complaint of the boy\u2019s father and arrested the girl\u2019s family members \u201cin order to control the situation from getting out of hand\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cMuslims got very agitated after the boy\u2019s body was found and alleged that the girl\u2019s family had murdered the boy. The Muslim community started calling for revenge and many young men were threatening to take the law into their own hands if police did not act. There was a real danger of Muslims attacking Hindus and a riot breaking out. So the arrests were necessary to douse passions,\u201d explained a district administration officer.<\/p>\n
Leaders of the BJP who have rallied in support of the girl\u2019s family said that the police were biased.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe arrests of the girl\u2019s father and brothers are yet another example of the shameless appeasement of Muslims by the present Trinamool government. We will launch an agitation against this,\u201d said an angry Surojeet Sen, the vice-president of the BJP\u2019s Uttar Dinajpur unit.<\/p>\n
Rajbongshi leaders said the community was hurt and angry.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe girl\u2019s father and brothers who had carried out her last rites will not be able to observe the prescribed rituals now since they were remanded to police custody for 10 days. This is a grave insult to our sentiments. The police could have waited till all the rituals were over and utilised the time to carry out a thorough investigation,\u201d said a Hemanta Singha, a Rajbongshi community leader.<\/p>\n
Other community leaders said that the police should have acted responsibly and not in a biased manner in order to appease the Mulims.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf passions in the Muslim community were running high and they (the Muslims) were planning to attack Hindus in Chopra, the police should have beefed up security for Hindus and warned the Muslims,\u201d said another Rajbongshi leader, a schoolteacher, who did not want to be named.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the police acted on the complaint of the boy\u2019s father and arrested the girl\u2019s relatives, they should have first acted on the complaint of the girl\u2019s family against the boy\u2019s family and some local musclemen. By not doing so, the police have exposed their anti-Hindu and pro-Muslim bias,\u201d said Uttar Dinajpur district BJP chief Biswajit Lahiri.<\/p>\n
The BJP is planning to launch a sustained campaign against this minority appeasement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The arrest of the father and two brothers of the 16-year-old alleged rape-murder victim at Chopra in north Bengal\u2019s Uttar Dinajpur district has triggered an outcry and charges of Muslim appeasement. The girl had gone missing from her home on Saturday evening and her half-naked body that reportedly bore marks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kolkata"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Bengal.pngw1200autoformatcompressogImagetrue.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bengalnewstimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}