Communal violence in West Bengal over 'objectionable' post

TAKI ( NORTH 24 PARGANAS ): As one proceeded along Taki Road , which leads to the India-Bangladesh border, the tension in the air was palpable. The road itself became out of bounds to the public beyond Berachampa , 14km from Baduria, the epicentre of the communal flare-up. Cars couldn't proceed further as logs were piled on the road to cut off the area under siege. Torched skeletons of police vehicles lay lined up in front of Baduria police station, which was mobbed on Monday afternoon before the crowd went on a rampage, wrecking shops in the vicinity.Police from neighbouring police stations had no access to the area till Tuesday night, when a BSF team made it to the troubled zone. The embers had spread to far-off places in Basirhat since the morning, prompting the state to block internet services in the area in the afternoon. School students lined up along Taki Road -pupils of Auxilium Convent, Aditya Academy and Taki Govt Multipurpose were held up for hours before they could reach homes. It looked like an undeclared emergency , with rumours on damage and violence fuelling the flames and panic.Hundreds gathered near Berachampa crossing on Tuesday morning, braving incessant rain. Passions ran high while they held aloft placards demanding “death sentence" for the boy whose Facebook post triggered the rage. They had mobbed the police station hours after the teenager from Rudrapur in Basirhat was arrested on Monday afternoon.Police constables, hugely outnumbered, took shelter at nearby tea stalls. This was after members of a particular community ransacked the house of the accused and set a few police vehicles ablaze on Monday night. “Police have to find out if the teenager's comment on Facebook was part of a bigger conspiracy against our community," said Ashraful, an agitator.“News of the Facebook post went viral since yesterday afternoon, and people started protesting. It was a deliberate attempt to hurt our religious sentiments," said Mehedi Masood, a youth leading the agitation at Berachampa. A few roads were blocked on Monday night, and a full-fledged blockade was in place by Tuesday morning.Roads were blocked at Beliaghata, Golabari, Shashan, Deganga, Jibanpore, Kanthipore and Baduria. Large rallies were taken out since morning from different areas. “Each of these rallies had hundreds of locals who protested an insult on the religion,“ Masood said. Idris Ali, the Trinamool Congress MP from Basirhat, did the rounds of the area. “We tried to pacify the crowd. But the situation was difficult,“ he said. Ali had taken a monk with him to pacify the agitators. The mob refused to reason with him."Bhaskar Mukherjee, the North 24Parganas SP, got injured while controlling a mob. By evening, four companies of BSF were deployed. “The situation is still worrying, as there are sporadic incidents of violence. We are hopeful that additional forces will help us to control the mob,“ said Shyamal Samanta, Basirhat SDPO.