West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee today visited Birbhum district in the state where 8 people were burnt alive after the murder of a TMC worker. Banerjee, who has already promised strict action in the case, handed over a cheque of Rs 5 lakh to the kin of those killed while announcing that Rs 2 lakh will be given for reconstructing affected houses. She also said that families of the people who died in the fire will be given a job and Rs 5 lakh. She said that those injured will be provided Rs 50,000 each.
Banerjee said suspects of the Rampurhat killings will be hunted down and arrested unless they surrender. Meanwhile, West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar asked the West Bengal government to learn from the incident rather than defend it. “This is a shameful event and an indelible scar on governance. The burning of people alive in a democracy in this manner is very painful. I appeal to the government to learn the lessons rather than offering defence,” he said.
On the other hand, the Bharatiya Janata Party also sharpened its attack on the Bengal government after reports claimed that the postmortem report revealed that the victims were brutally beaten up before they were burnt alive.
According to PTI, the postmortem report suggests that these women and children were brutally beaten up before being burnt. “Till date, the workers of Mamata Banerjee ji have killed about 200 BJP workers….In the last one week, 26 political murders have taken place in Bengal. Mamata Banerjee should have stopped them, but it did not happen,” BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said.
“In Birbhum, where the brutal killings took place, the local women were saying that the police were absent after the incident. The administration had received instructions that the police should not reach there. Even an ambulance was not allowed to reach there,” Patra firther alleged, adding that some TMC leaders were trying to cover up the matter.
Eight people, including two children, were charred to death as nearly a dozen huts were set ablaze in Birbhum district early Tuesday in a suspected fallout of the murder of a panchayat official of the ruling TMC.