The delegation that arrived in the national capital on behalf of the Dhulagarh riot victims apprised the NHRC of the tense situation that still prevails on the ground in Dhulagarh. The delegation also demanded that the NHRC send an independent team from Delhi to assess the situation on the ground, along with setting up an independent investigation through the National Investigation Agency (NIA) or the CBI.
Some of the riot victims who were part of the delegation narrated the horrifying events that happened in their village on 13-14 December last year.
According to Reeta Barai (name changed), a resident of Dhulagarh, 13 and 14 December 2016 were the most horrifying days of her life. “It all started when a procession celebrating Eid-Ul-Nabi was stopped from entering our village, as a member of our village had died the same day and the men in the procession were playing loud music, while dancing and raising anti-India slogans. Soon after, a scuffle broke out and they started hurling crude bombs at our houses and shops. However, that day the situation was pacified soon.”
“But on 14 December, things took an ugly turn. The same people, along with 600 to 700 men, entered our village once again with prior planning to wreak havoc on us. They entered my house and looted our belongings and burnt down our house; I have nothing left since then. They even dragged us out of the house and beat us mercilessly. I have lost everything that I had. Since then, I have been living in a makeshift camp and most of us are even scared to go back,” she added.
Eye witnesses also alleged that on that day (14 December), around 200 to 250 shops and houses were burned down, men were beaten up and women molested and raped.
Dibakar Pandit (name changed), also a Dhulagarh resident, told this correspondent, “At around 10 am on the morning of December 14, a large crowd of men entered our village shouting slogans. They started hurling petrol bombs. They also hurled abuses against our community, while some forced men and women out of their houses. Several shops and houses were looted and women molested. Though a curfew was in place, they were moving around in large numbers, but the local police was nowhere in sight to take any action. We had even alerted the local police and the DSP (District Superintendent of Police), but none came to our rescue. Even fire brigades failed to arrive on time to save the houses and shops from burning.”
Pandit also alleged that the police, which arrived at the village three hours after the incident, registered FIRs against the victims.
Diptangshu Chaudhury, a member of the delegation, told The Sunday Guardian, “It has been over 50 days that rioting in Dhulagarh happened and yet the state government has failed to do anything, apart from just giving compensatory cheques of a mere Rs 35,000, while people have lost lakhs and lakhs of rupees and several properties have been damaged.”
“We have filed a justice petition with the NHRC demanding that the NHRC send a team to the village to assess the damage to property and human lives in Dhulagarh. We are also demanding that a fair and thorough investigation be carried out,” Chaudhury added.
Chaudhury also alleged that 16 small and big riots have happened across several parts of Bengal since Durga Puja concluded in October last year, but the state government has failed to control these riots. “Riots are happening all across Bengal, where one community is being targeted over and over again and the state machinery has failed to protect human lives and property. In this regard, we have also sent a deputation to the Ministry of Home Affairs seeking NIA investigation and have also apprised the PMO of such issues in the state,” he said.
The delegation is also deliberating to file a petition before the National Commission for Women (NCW) against the alleged atrocities carried out on women during the riots and seek justice and fair investigation into the matter.
Gourav Bose, advocate for the riot victims, said, “We are also planning to file a petition before the Calcutta High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution. The police there had failed to perform their Constitutional and statutory duty of protecting human lives and property. Even when a curfew had been imposed, how did a group of 600-700 men enter the village and burn down and ransack properties?”