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Mauled cops return from Bengal

Syed Firdaus Ashraf in Bombay

The Bombay police team, which was thrashed by a mob reportedly led by Forward Bloc member of the Bengal assembly Rabin Ghosh on Thursday, July 23, returned to the city by the Howrah-Bombay Mail on Monday.

The 21-member team, headed by Assistant Sub-Inspector Hanumanth Rao Chavan, were summoned to the city police headquarters where they met Deputy Commissioner of Police U O Bodwade and Police Commissioner Ronald Hyacinth Mendonca.

Suvarna Pingle, a lady constable who was assaulted, told Rediff On The NeT, "There were nearly 300 people gathered at the Changel railway station. They were angry, shouting that none among the deportees was a Bangladeshi national. And that all of them were Indians."

The city police had arrested what they said were 34 Bangladeshi nationals in Bombay. Seven of these were women. These people were locked in a separate bogie on the Kurla-Howrah Express, and were heading for the India-Bangladesh border.

The incident occurred at 1545 hours on Thursday, when a mob surrounded the train at the Changel station. Some in the crowd threw stones, others lay down on the railway tracks to prevent the deportees from being taken to the India-Bangladesh border.

"We were caught unawares when the crowd gheraoed us, we had never experienced this kind of situation before," said one constable who was injured in the melee.

"The crowd entered our compartment, overpowered us and freed all the 34 Bangladeshi nationals. When one of our sepoys tried to intervene, they hit him on the head with an iron rod," he said.

The mob went for Suvarana, who tried to stop them from freeing the women deportees. One member of the mob hit her in the stomach with an iron rod. She says she fell and regained consciousness only two hours later.

ASI Chavan fired into the air, trying to draw the attention of the Railway Police Force personnel who were a little distance away. But by the time the RPF reached the bogie, the triumphant mob had fled with the deportees.

In all, four members of the Bombay police team was injured. A case has been registered under Section 307 of the Indian Penal Code at the Shalimar police station in Bengal.

Just two days before, on July 20, another Bombay police team had taken a group of deportees to Bengal and was received by an unruly mob at the Kalyani border. The mob said the police were actually deporting Indians.

The policemen escorting the deportees are attached to the department of local arms, and have nothing to do with the deportation process. Their brief is to escort the group of alleged Bangladeshis to the border. Their other assignment is to protect people on the hit-list.

"Why are we being targeted when we have nothing to do with the deportations?" asks one puzzled lady constable who was part of the team.

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