Kin of girl whose unnatural death sparked clashes in north Bengal arrested

Police in Bengal’s North Dinajpur district have arrested the father and two brothers of the 16-year-old girl whose unnatural death on Sunday triggered clashes between police and local people in the Chopra area.

The Bharatiya Janata Party had alleged that she was raped and killed by Trinamool Congress workers as her family supported the saffron party.

The arrests were made a day after the local youth, who was named as the suspect in the police complaint lodged by the girl’s father, was found dead in a ditch on Monday morning. The youth’s family said in a police complaint that he was murdered by the girl’s family.

Tension is still palpable in the area since the girl and the youth belonged to different religious communities.

The youth lived in the same village and police are investigating if the two had an affair and whether their parents were opposed to it.

Sachin Makkar, superintendent of police, Islampur police district, said “We have arrested the father and two brothers of the girl based on the complaint of the youth’s father.”

The autopsy report of the youth will be available to the police on Tuesday afternoon. The post mortem report of the girl did not indicate rape and pointed at poisoning, the state police earlier said.

Police have also arrested 22 people in connection with Sunday’s arson and clashes in which police vans and government buses were also set on fire.

Surajit Sen, vice president of the BJP North Dinajpur district unit, said, “The government and police have cooked up a story about an affair between the youth and the girl.”

The police stopped a team of senior BJP leaders from visiting the village on Monday but Bengal’s tourism minister Gautam Deb met the girl’s family.

The girl recently passed the class 10 state board exams.

The youth’s uncle alleged that his nephew was murdered by the girl’s family on Sunday night. He alleged that both the youth and the girls had been killed.

The youth’s mother said, “Someone called my son over the phone at 11 pm on Sunday and he left home. He later called and said he was with three people and would return soon. We never heard from him again.”

“Police are investigating both the cases and looking into all possible aspects of the incident including social ostracism, parental pressure and the role played by some persons in hiding, misleading and diverting the attention from the actual incident,” the West Bengal Police said on Twitter on Monday.

The girl’s father had alleged that his daughter was regularly harassed by the youth and he raped and murdered her.

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