July 10 (Reuters) – Indian police said on Friday they had arrested dozens of people for violence and vandalism during protests this week over the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl in an eastern state.
Police said one innocent person had been lynched by angry crowds. Protesters had blocked roads and torched vehicles since the girl’s body was found in a pond on Sunday, a day after she went missing, in Baruipur city of West Bengal state about 30 km (20 miles) from Kolkata.
“We have arrested 35 people for violence and vandalism so far … others involved are being identified through multiple videos that went viral,” senior state police officer Arvind Kumar Anand told Reuters.
Separately, police said they had shot dead one of four men who had been arrested for the girl’s rape and murder. The suspect, Prabhas Mondal, was shot in the early hours of Wednesday while attempting to escape, having been taken to the crime scene as part of the investigation, police said.
Mondal’s mother refused to accept his body, saying she did not want to bring it home because he “did not do anything good”.
“The sin committed by my son, he has received punishment for it,” she said in a TV interview.
Indian media quoted the family of one of the other suspects as saying he was innocent and had been arrested in a case of mistaken identity. There was no report of comment from the families of the other two suspects.
Suvendu Adhikari, who became West Bengal’s chief minister after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party won state polls in May, said there would be “no leniency” for those committing crimes like rape and violence, or for those beating “innocent and blameless” people to death.
“This new government will pursue such criminals to the fullest extent of the law and ensure justice is served,” he said on X on Thursday.
The case has again highlighted concerns about women’s and girls’ safety in India, despite tougher laws introduced after the 2012 Delhi gang rape and murder of a 22-year-old woman led to nationwide demonstrations. Four men convicted of that killing were hanged.
West Bengal came under intense global scrutiny in 2024 after the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital triggered nationwide protests over women’s safety.
(Reporting by Jatindra Dash, writing by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by YP Rajesh and Peter Graff)
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