Protests over Waqf Act turn violent, three killed in Bengal’s Murshidabad district

KOLKATA,APR 13 : Three people were killed in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district on Saturday as fresh protests against the Waqf (Amendment) Act turned violent. Police said they have not resorted to firing in Samserganj block, claiming that the three people died due to firing by the BSF, which the border force denied.

So far, 118 people have been arrested in connection with the violence that broke out in the Muslim-majority district on Friday, according to police.

Amid violent protests, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the Act will not be implanted in the state. “Remember, we did not make the law over which many are agitated. The law was made by the central government. So the answer you want should be sought from the central government,” Banerjee said on X.

Fifteen police personnel were injured while trying to control the mob on Friday. “We will not tolerate hooliganism. We will deal with it very, very strongly,” DGP Rajeev Kumar said, “It started as demonstrations, then public property was damaged, and then it took a communal angle. In the morning, a fresh flare-up took place, and we again controlled the situation. We are not action-shy. If miscreants take law into their hands, we will act very strongly,” Kumar said.

Jawed Shamim, ADG (law and order), said, “Trouble erupted in Sujarmore crossing under Suti police station as agitators blocked NH 12. We baton charged and used tear gas shells. But the mob started to ransack and set fire to public property and public buses, and police were attacked by the crowd. We had to resort to firing.”

Prohibitory orders and an internet ban remained in place in many areas of Murshidabad. The house of TMC MLA Manirul Islam was ransacked. “The mob pelted stones and ransacked my house. I was not at home. I went to talk to the agitators and I was heckled,” said Islam.

Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari wrote to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, seeking an NIA probe into the vandalism of railway property. “This was not an act of protest, rather a premeditated act of violence, an assault on democracy and governance by Jihadist forces,” he said.

The Calcutta High Court on Saturday ordered deployment of Central forces in the violence-hit Murshidabad district. The forces will assist the state in restoring normalcy.

Meanwhile, tensions flared up in Tripura’s Unakoti district when a protest against Waqf Act turned violent. Officials said six to seven police personnel sustained minor injuries.

-PTI