A nine-year-old girl was allegedly raped and murdered at Jaynagar in South 24-Parganas late on Friday night, prompting a mob to torch a police outpost that had allegedly failed to act after she was first reported missing.

The incident, which comes within two months of the August 9 RG Kar brutality in Calcutta, 57km from Jaynagar, has reignited concerns over the safety of women and children in the state.

“We went to the local (Mahismari) police camp to lodge a complaint as soon as the girl went missing on her way home from private tuition,” a villager said.

“But the officers at the outpost (under Jaynagar police station) said they would not register a complaint as the area fell under the jurisdiction of Kultali police station. Had the police acted promptly, the girl could have been saved.”

A source said the situation turned violent after the girl’s body was found in a waterlogged paddy field around 2.30am on Saturday.

About 1,000 villagers vandalised the Mahismari police outpost, setting fire to furniture and documents, in the morning. The police personnel fled, several of them seen being chased by villagers, mostly women armed with brooms and sticks, until reinforcements arrived from Baruipur.

Later, Kultali MLA Ganesh Chandra Mondal of Trinamool was chased away when he arrived at the girl’s home.

His party colleague and Jaynagar MP Pratima Mondal met with “go back” slogans at the rural hospital where the body had been brought.

Palash Chandra Dhali, superintendent of Baruipur police district, denied the charges of police inaction. He said the force had acted promptly and arrested the accused, 19-year-old Mustakin Sardar, shortly after the body was found.

“The information (about the girl’s disappearance) reached the police outpost around 9pm (Friday), and the police acted immediately. A kidnapping case was registered. The accused was arrested by 3am on Saturday,” he said.

Dhali claimed the accused had confessed. He said a murder case had been registered and rape charges would be added if the post-mortem report confirmed sexual assault.

Multiple sources within the state police, however, acknowledged that jurisdictional conflicts between police stations, especially in the border areas, had worsened the law-and-order situation.

Ganesh, the MLA, admitted the jurisdictional issues. “The girl’s village falls under Kultali police station, while the Mahismari outpost is under Jaynagar police station. The villagers’ allegations should be investigated. We want everyone involved, including those responsible for negligence, punished,” he said.

Asked whether he had fled in the face of mob fury, he was evasive: “The villagers were angry... They agitated in front of me.”

Dhali said the police would investigate the villagers’ allegations and act against those involved in the violence, including the arson at the police camp. “The situation is under control now,” he said.

Protests broke out also in Calcutta, where BJP and CPM supporters agitated in front of the Kantapukur morgue, demanding the post-mortem be conducted in daylight on Sunday rather than after sundown on Saturday.

A source said the post-mortem was not carried out on Saturday to avoid a controversy like the one following the post-dusk autopsy on the RG Kar victim.

As an ambulance was leaving the rural hospital with the body, it faced resistance from CPM youth leader Minakshi Mukherjee and others who demanded that someone from the girl’s family be allowed in the vehicle instead of Trinamool leaders.

“The girl’s father later boarded the ambulance but a local Trinamool gram panchayat member accompanied him,” a local source said.

CPM youth leader Kalatan Dasgupta accused the police of caning protesters and roughing up party student leader Dipsita Dhar. He said two supporters had been arrested.