THOUSANDS of people staged a road blockade and vandalised a police vehicle after the body of a 10-year-old girl, who was allegedly raped and murdered, was brought to her home in Kultali in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district for cremation, police said on Tuesday. The class 4 student was allegedly raped-and-murdered while returning home from tuition on the evening of October 5. Her body was taken to Kantapukur morgue in Kolkata after the incident, and then to JNM Hospital in Nadia district’s Kalyani on Monday morning for post-mortem examination as ordered by the Calcutta High Court. Thousands of villagers, a large number of them women, launched a sit-in at Kripakhali More in Kultali after the body of the girl arrived from Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Hospital on Monday night.

 

They raised ‘We want justice’ slogans as police reached the spot. On Tuesday morning, the agitators tried to march towards Mahishmari police outpost with the body but were prevented by policemen, an officer said. Following that, they went to a burning ghat in Kripakhali and arrangements were being made for cremation of the girl but some agitators staging the road blockade nearby turned violent and hurled stones at a police vehicle, in which a senior officer was seated. The police officer tried to persuade the villagers to lift the blockade, but they vowed that their agitation would continue during the ongoing Durga Puja festivities. As the police vehicle, in which a woman constable was also seated, tried to leave the spot, villagers vandalised it and pelted it with stones. However, the vehicle, with broken windshields, managed to leave the area through another route as the blockade continued on Kripakhali More. “A woman constable who had fallen ill was inside the vehicle. Despite our pleas, the protestors vandalised the vehicle. There was provocation but we did not react.

 

Those behind this act will be identified and action will be taken as per law,” the senior officer said. Nimai Sardar, an agitator, alleged, “We have no faith in the police. Had they been responsive at the outset on Saturday evening, the girl could have been rescued. And now police are trying to hush up the matter.” Joynagar MP Prartima Mondal, who had come to visit the family of the girl, also faced protests as ‘go back’ slogans were raised against her. The Calcutta High Court on Sunday ordered that the post-mortem of the schoolgirl be conducted at AIIMS Kalyani on Monday morning in the presence of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) of Baruipur court. There were some technical issues at AIIMS Kalyani because of which the autopsy was conducted at JNM Hospital.