Manju Bauri has been crying inconsolably since Saturday evening.

The mother of 14-year-old Soumen Barui, who was hit by a bullet on Saturday evening when workers of the BJP and Trinamul clashed at Patrashayar, lost consciousness several times in the last 24 hours.

“Why was my son fired at?” she has been asking after getting consciousness.

Soumen — a Class VIII student of local Hat Krishnagar High School — had stopped by at a bookstore while he was on his way back home from tuitions. Suddenly, a stray bullet hit him.

The town had erupted on Saturday soon after a rally by minister and Trinamul’s political observer for the district Suvendu Adhikari. Bullets were fired indiscriminately when Trinamul and BJP supporters clashed. Later, police intervened.

The bullet hit Soumen in his abdomen. He was admitted to the Bankura Sammiloni Medical College and Hospital. Doctors said his condition was critical.

The members of the Bauri family, in a state of shock since Saturday evening, said they couldn’t expect that a political rally would cost them so dear.

“We are a poor farming family. Why do we have to bear this?” Manju asked sitting at the family’s Hat Krishnagar home in Patrashayar.

Soumen’s cousin Tapas and Tulu Prasad Khan, both BJP workers, also suffered bullet injuries.The condition of the duo was stable.

BJP leader arrested

Tamal Kanti Bhui, the BJP’s Patrashayar block unit president, was held on charges of instigating the clash between BJP and Trinamul workers in Patrashayar.

Bhui was produced on Sunday in a Bishnupur court which remanded him in four days’ judicial custody.

“Trinamul workers and police attacked the BJP activists and they are accusing Bhui? They are the ones who fired. I will submit a detailed report to our party leadership in Delhi,” said Subhas Sarkar, the newly elected BJP MP from Bankura.