Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 19:With no untoward incident reported from any trouble-torn areas in the last six days, the West Bengal governor CV Ananda Bose and a delegation of the National Commission for Women (NCW) led by its chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar on Saturday separately met the riot-hit people of Murshidabad.
The governor met the family members of a man and his son, who were killed during violence over anti-Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025 protests in Murshidabad district, and assured them of all possible support. The bodies of the two – identified as Harogobindo Das and Chandan Das – were found in their house in Jafrabad locality in Shamsherganj with multiple stab wounds.
“I will look into your requests. There are three to four suggestions. They have asked for BSF postings in the locality. I will take up the matter with the appropriate authorities. Some proactive action will definitely be taken. I have also shared with them the ‘Peace Room’ number (Raj Bhavan helpline),” CV Ananda Bose told reporters after visiting their residence.
The NCW delegation also assured the riot-hit that all steps would be taken by the Centre to ensure their safety in future. The affected women narrated their plight during the violent days and demanded that permanent BSF camps be set up in select areas of the district and an NIA probe into the recent communal clashes, which claimed three lives.
Ms Rahatkar said, “I am dumbfounded by the agony these women are having to suffer. What they went through during the violence is beyond imagination.” The NCW chief told the victims that there was “no cause for worry” as the Centre was beside them. “We have come here to see your plight. Please don’t worry. The country and the commission are beside you all. Don’t feel that you are alone,” Ms Rahatkar told the victims at Betbona village.
Governor Bose after speaking to locals in Dhulian Bazar area said, “I have asked them (the victims) to feel free to talk to me. They want justice, and they will get justice,” he asserted. Bose is also scheduled to visit other strife-torn places in Dhulian, Suti and Jangipur in the district.
The Bengal governor said his visit to the district came after he got contradictory reports of what actually transpired on the ground.
“My assessment has to be verified by me only. I had contradictory reports. Hence, I came (to Murshidabad). What I saw was bizarre. It was barbaric. Ugly instincts of degeneration human behaviour,” Mr Bose said.
“Violence used to happen during elections, but now it is becoming frequent. A section is trying to establish force on another. It is the worst form of jingoism. People have lost faith in the system,” he added. Meanwhile, a section of villagers staged a demonstration, putting up road blockades at Betbona in Jafrabad, demanding that the governor, whose convoy had left the place, return and listen to them.
An official said Mr Bose subsequently returned to Betbona, held a discussion with the villagers, and pacified them. At least three people, including the father and son, died and over 274 have been arrested in connection with violence over the anti-Waqf (Amendment) Act protests that engulfed these Muslim-majority areas from April 8-12.
Before starting his journey for Shamsherganj, Bose spoke to members of some affected families at a guest house in Farakka, the official said. On Friday, despite chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s request to postpone his visit, Bose had visited Malda and met people who have taken shelter in a temporary refugee camp after fleeing the violence-hit areas of Murshidabad district. He assured them that “proactive action” would be taken to address their grievances.
During the visit to the riot-hit villages by the NCW members, the affected women broke down before them. The villagers were seen holding placards that displayed messages – ‘We don’t want Lakshmir Bhandar, we want BSF camp. We want security.’ ‘We are under attack, ‘ read another placard.
NCW member Archana Majumdar told reporters that the commission would report to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and convey the demand of the riot-affected women for setting up BSF camps there. BJP MLA Sreerupa Mitra Chaudhury, who was accompanying the NCW team, said, “This is my constituency, Dakshin Malda. I have been contesting from here for the last 12 years, and what I have seen this time is unprecedented. I had never seen violence on such a scale here in the last 12 years.”
The NCW team also visited the Dhulian area of the Murshidabad district, which witnessed violence on a massive scale during protests against amendments to the Waqf Act on April 11 and 12. The NCW team also visited a relief camp in Malda district on Friday and met those displaced by the Murshidabad riots.
The commission had assessed the condition of women affected by the recent communal violence in parts of the state. “From what we’ve seen so far, the situation is extremely distressing. We can feel their pain and suffering,” the NCW chief said. The NCW had earlier taken suo motu cognisance of the violence that broke out in Shamsherganj, Suti, Dhulian, and Jangipur areas of Murshidabad on April 11 and 12.
Three people were killed including the father and son duo whose bodies were found in their house in Jafrabad locality in Shamsherganj with multiple stab wounds, and hundreds rendered homeless during the clashes, which occurred in Muslim-majority areas, amid protests against amendments to the central Waqf Act.
