Parts of Kolkata turn into battlefield over protests against minor sacrifice

On Sunday night, a man named Aloke Kumar was arrested after the girl’s body was recovered from his residence. Later on the same night, the local people staged demonstrations in front of the Tiljala police station demanding handover of the accused to them, leading to clashes between the cops and the protesters.

The situation turned violent on Monday afternoon, as the local people staged fresh protests in the Tiljala, Tarikhana Crossing, Picnic Garden Road and Bondel Road areas. A group of agitators also started a rail blockade at the Bondel Gate railway crossing.

As a large contingent of the police, led by two deputy commissioners, made an attempt to remove the agitators, clashes broke out between the protesters and the cops. The agitated mob attacked the police with bricks, stones and crude bombs. A police vehicle and a couple of motorcycles were torched by the agitators on the Bondel Road flyover. A number of police vehicles were damaged by the protesters.

The police had to resort to lathicharge and fire of tear gas shells to bring the situation under control. Till the time of filing this report, tension prevailed in the above-mentioned areas.

According to police sources, Aloke Kumar has confessed to sacrificing the seven-year-old girl on the advice of a ‘tantrik’, who told him that the sacrifice of a minor girl will help him become a father. Both Aloke Kumar and the ‘tantrik’ hail from Bihar.

The accused told the police that his wife had suffered three miscarriages following which he contacted the tantrik who advised him to adopt the sacrifice route.

According to the girl’s parents, she was sent to dump the garbage at the nearby garbage bin on Sunday morning and since then she went missing.

A team of Kolkata Police will soon leave for Bihar to track and arrest the ‘tantrik’.