Police arrested three suspected RSS activists on Monday in connection with the alleged attack on rationalist Dalit professor Sudhakar Sardar, which had occurred at a cultural fair in Mandir Bazar, South 24-Parganas, on Saturday night.

All three accused were granted bail by the additional chief judicial magistrate’s court in Diamond Harbour since the police did not charge them with stringent IPC sections, apparently ignoring the magnitude of the incident.

The police action angered a large section of the local Dalit community which is afraid of similar attacks since they follow and practise the rationalist views of Sardar, a former resident of Mandir Bazar. The police had picked up three of the seven accused persons — Mangal Halder, Kaushik Purkait and Sudhakar Sardar — from different locations early on Monday morning.

They were charged with criminal trespass and voluntarily causing grievous injuries with common intention. Angered over the allegedly lenient approach of the police, Bahujan Samaj Party activists submitted a memorandum to the officer-in-charge of Mandir Bazar police station as well as the superintendent of Sunderbans police district, demanding the arrests of all the accused with sterner charges.

The BSP’s South 24-Parganas district committee chief, Amulya Sardar, said: “It is unfortunate to find that the accused persons got bail despite committing a heinous crime like attempted murder.”Manusher Pashey, a Dalit organisation, is planning a legal battle against the alleged police apathy. However, senior officers of the Sunderbans police district have rejected the allegations.

“The case has been started solely on the basis of the complaint. The probe is at a preliminary stage. So, more charges can be added if needed during the investigation,” said a senior police officer. On Monday, Sardar got himself discharged from the hospital despite multiple injuries as his presence was needed at home for his ailing wife.

“I am left with no option since my wife is ill. I am feeling unwell, but had to leave the hospital,” said Sardar, who is attached to the education department at Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose College in Calcutta.

The rationalist said he couldn’t hear properly yet because of an injury. “A CT scan was done and no internal injury in the head was spotted.... But the ears are posing a problem since the attack,” said Sardar, an advocate of Ambedkarism.

The Dalit Sahitya Academy chairman and Trinamul Congress MLA, Manoranjan Byapari, has condemned the attack. Byapari was scheduled to visit a literary fest that was scheduled for Sunday.“I am shocked to see that Dalits in Bengal are being attacked by hooligans of the Sangh family. I was scheduled to speak at Mandir Bazar, but failed to make it there. This attack could have happened to me, for my speech and writings. I shall talk to the highest levels of the administration so that justice is ensured,” said the MLA, who is also an author.

On Monday afternoon, about 500 people gathered in front of the Mandir Bazar police station and began a demonstration demanding the release of the three arrested persons. They also wanted to submit a memorandum to the police. But the police refused to accept it and dispersed the crowd.