Kolkata / Tamluk, June 12
A mob attacked and damaged a local train at Bethuadahari railway station in West Bengal’s Nadia district on Sunday evening to protest controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammad, while violence in Howrah and Murshidabad districts remained more or less the same over the past two days. happened. peaceful.
Another group ransacked Dhubulia railway station in Nadia, a senior police officer said, in protest against suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma’s comments on Prophet.
Some employees of the station and passengers of the Krishnanagar-Lalgola local train were injured, an Eastern Railway official said.
In Purba Medinipur district, police stopped BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, Leader of Opposition in the state assembly (LoP) from going to violence-hit areas of Howrah “as a precautionary measure” as prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC were imposed. Is. several areas in the district.
The police claimed that their visit could lead to law and order problem there.
The official said that he would approach the court against it on Monday.
Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar also sought an update from Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi on the officer not being allowed to go to Howrah.
In Bethuadahari, more than 1,000 protesters pelted stones, damaged houses and tried to block roads, a police official said.
On being chased by the police, a section of them went inside Bethuadahari railway station and attacked a train parked on a platform there.
Train service on that line was disrupted for about two hours due to the incident.
Ten people have been detained in connection with the incident that took place at around 6.05 pm, the official told PTI.
“We are on the lookout for the miscreants who attacked us,” he said. Heavy teams of GRP and RPF have also reached here. The situation is now under control.” An Eastern Railway official said the train was badly damaged in the attack.
Howrah City Police Commissioner Praveen Tripathi and Howrah (Rural) SP Swati Bhangalia took stock of the situation.
No untoward incident was reported in both the areas except road blockade by protesters at Barewah in Howrah.
“The area is peaceful. We have police presence everywhere and patrolling is being done. I will appeal to the people to maintain peace and law and order. We are on alert. We have registered an FIR in every case, conducted raids and arrested people. We have senior officers posted there,” Tripathi said.
Police have so far arrested over 100 people from these places in connection with their alleged links to the riots that broke out in the state since Friday, a police official said.
Meanwhile, after a high drama that lasted for nearly two hours in Tamluk after the police stopped the officer, he was allowed to proceed on the condition that he would go straight to Kolkata without making any potholes in the violence-hit areas adjoining Howrah district. will be gone
The officers were proceeding with their security team when they were stopped by a huge police force at Radharani Mor in Tamluk. There was no other BJP leader with him.
The BJP leader kept sitting inside the vehicle and claimed that he had no intention of going to Howrah. He was also reluctant to return to Kanthi, his hometown in Purba Medinipur district, from where he had started.
He had a heated argument with the police officers present at the spot, saying that he wanted to have lunch and rest at a guest house at Kolaghat in East Medinipur district before leaving for Kolkata.
“I have been illegally obstructed by @WBPolice on NH 116 in Radhamoni under Tamluk PS. @MedinipurSp Is there a curfew or section 144 in East Medinipur district? I am on my way to Kolaghat for lunch. How is this banned?” the official said in a series of tweets from the spot.
After being allowed to proceed, the officials went straight to the protest site of party colleague and state BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar against the alleged failure of the Mamata Banerjee government in preventing violent incidents in Howrah.
Majumdar was arrested on Saturday afternoon when he was on his way towards Howrah district. He was later released.
Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar also sought information from Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi about the reduction in the powers of the officer.
“Chief Secretary @chief_west has been called to respond immediately to the communication sent by Hon’ble Leader of Opposition. This is unfair in the context of the earlier reduction in their rights. Why undeclared emergency? The Governor tweeted, sharing a picture of an earlier letter written by the officer to Dwivedi urging the administration not to stop him from visiting the damaged offices of the BJP party.
BJP leaders, including Majumdar, condemned the alleged attempt by the TMC-run government to prevent opposition leaders affected by the recent violence from meeting people.
“After keeping BJP WB president Sukanta Majumdar in custody, Mamata Banerjee is now ensuring that LOP Suvendu officials are not able to visit Howrah, where BJP offices have burnt down. Her entire focus is on the opposition and not on Dudhel Ges (milking cows) as she calls them,” tweeted BJP’s West Bengal co-in-charge Amit Malviya.
Reacting to the development, senior TMC leader Kunal Ghosh alleged that the officials wanted to go to Howrah with the intention of creating trouble.
Protests broke out in several parts of Howrah district on Friday over controversial remarks on Prophet Mohammad by suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma and expelled leader Naveen Jindal.
Protesters pelted stones, torched police vehicles and damaged public property during violent protests and clashes with law enforcers in the district. Fresh violent protests erupted in Panchala on Saturday.
Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC have been imposed in many areas of Howrah.