A police camp was set ablaze and irate villagers laid siege to a police station on Saturday, hours after the body of an eight-year-old girl was found in a pond in at Mahishmari, under Joynagar police station in South 24-Parganas, around 55km south of Calcutta.
The Class IV student who was on her way to attend tuitions was missing since Friday afternoon. It was alleged that when the family members and some neighbours went to the police camp to inform the on-duty cops, they were told to report the incident at the police station.
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The police are trying to find out if the child was sexually assaulted before being killed.
The incident comes even as Calcutta has been reeling under a wave of protests and a cease-work by junior doctors since August 9 when a 31-year-old postgraduate trainee doctor was found raped and murdered in a seminar hall at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
In the case of the Joynagar victim, the villagers had launched a search operation and late in the night found the child’s body. Later, the police arrested a suspect based on CCTV footage.
The arrest was not enough to calm the villagers, who went on a rampage since morning, first at the camp at Mahishmari and later Joynagar police station. Villagers carrying sticks and brooms attacked the camp, destroyed documents and set the camp on fire. Later, the crowd marched towards the police station where another pitched battle between the villagers and the cops took place.
The police lathi-charged and hurled tear-gas shells to disperse the mob.
An FIR in the Joynagar case was registered well after midnight on Friday. ‘
“One suspect has been arrested. The body has been sent for post-mortem. We will also look for any signs of sexual assault. The motive behind the abduction and killing is not clear yet,” Rupantar Goswami, additional superintendent of police, was quoted as saying.
The cops have claimed that peace has returned to the area and along with the investigation into the kidnapping and murder of the child, they are also looking for those involved in the arson and rioting at the police camp.
