JOYNAGAR (SOUTH 24 PARGANAS): A nine-year-old girl’s battered body was found in a ditch near her home at Joynagar in Bengal’s South 24 Parganas early Saturday, triggering a rampage by villagers who alleged “perfunctory” police response on a complaint since she went missing the previous day after leaving home for tuition. Her family alleged she was raped and murdered.
The protesters ransacked a police outpost in Joynagar’s Mahismari village, set it on fire and rained stones on the personnel, forcing the cops to retreat more than 1km to escape the fury that unfolded against the backdrop of nearly two months of agitations over the rape and murder of a junior doctor in Kolkata’s RG Kar Hospital.
Later in the day, Mostakin Sardar, a 19-year-old resident of Mahismari village, was arrested on charges of murdering the class IV student.
“He has admitted to killing the girl but has denied raping her. We are waiting for the post-mortem report,” Baruipur SP Palash Chandra Dhali said.
The girl had left home for her tutor’s place barely a kilometre away around 2pm on Friday and that was the last her family saw of her. “We lodged a complaint at Mahismari police outpost around 7pm but officials showed no urgency in either registering it or starting a search,” said the girl’s father. The girl’s body – with multiple injury marks and tattered clothes – was found in the ditch around eight hours later in the wee hours of Saturday.
The protests started as day broke, with hundreds joining in as word spread. When a huge police force, led by the Baruipur SDPO, reached the area and burst tear gas shells, the mob attacked the officer with brooms and sticks. Twelve policemen were injured. “We will continue our agitation till the accused are punished. We demand action against cops who delayed acting on the complaint. The girl could possibly have been rescued had the cops acted promptly,” one of the girl’s neighbours, Ganesh Dolui, said.
The cops denied the allegations, stating that the prime suspect was arrested within a few hours of the body being found. “We are with the family of the deceased. But we will also act against those involved in the arson at the police outpost,” an official said.