West Bengal 'Police Did Not Respond To Calls': Murshidabad Violence Victim Recalls Mob Attack That Killed Her Husband

A relative of the father-son duo, who were killed in the Murshidabad violence on Friday (11 April) night, has alleged that the West Bengal Police did not respond to their calls when a mob started attacking their house.

Haragobindo Das (65) and his son Chandan Das (40) were killed in Samserganj after being allegedly dragged of their house. Chandan worked as mason, while his father was a farmer owning a few bighas of land, as per Indian Express.

Chandan's wife, Pinki Das, said, "We kept calling the police after the attacks started. No one answered. Even after they hacked my husband and father-in-law to death, the bodies lay near our house for three hours."

Describing the violence, she said, "They attacked our house four times. Finally, they managed to break open the wooden door... A large number of Hindu houses and shops were vandalised, looted and set on fire. This happened in many other villages, too."

Pinki alleged that the rioters started by ransacking the house, room by room and then dragged his father-in-law and husband out of the house. "They hacked them both to death. I begged (the attackers), held their feet, but they threatened to kill me," she said.

Chandan is now survived by his wife Pinki, mother, a six-year-old daughter and two sons of 11 and 16 years of age. Chandan's mother, Parul Das took his children to the terrace to save them from attacks.

The Calcutta High Court ordered deployment of central forces not just in Murshidabad but in any other district where similar violence is reported, criticising the state’s delayed response.