Bengal woman dies by suicide after kangaroo court trial; TMC worker among 4 held

A homemaker died by suicide in the Phulbari area of West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district on June 29 shortly after she was tried for alleged adultery at a kangaroo court called by local villagers, of whom four were arrested on Tuesday, police said.

Among those arrested was Swapna Adhikari, a local Trinamool Congress (TMC) worker from Bakhra Vitta, the village where the incident took place.

The arrests were made on the basis of separate complaints lodged by the victim’s husband and the family of the man with whom she eloped on June 20 and returned home on June 28, said Nirmal Das, officer-in-charge of New Jalpaiguri police station.

Coming days after Tajimul Islam, a TMC worker, was arrested in the adjacent North Dinajpur district’s Chopra on charges of caning a man and a woman at a roadside kangaroo court on Sunday, the Jalpaiguri incident triggered a political row with the opposition parties calling Bengal a “lawless state.”

The Jalpaiguri incident is the sixth instance in Bengal since June 22 where public trials led to deaths.

A 23-year-old man was allegedly beaten to death over suspicion of theft at Tarakeswar in Hooghly district on Sunday. Similar instances were reported in Kolkata on June 28, Salt Lake (on the eastern outskirts of Kolkata) on June 29, Jhargram district on June 22 (the injured victim died in hospital on June 30) and Pandua (in Hooghly district) on June 27. The victims in four of these cases were attacked over suspicion of theft. The only exception was the incident at Pandua where a brawl started over playing loudspeakers in public.

In the Jalpaiguri incident, the husband of the victim alleged before the media on Tuesday and he, too, was thrashed at the kangaroo court which was held bypassing police and Malati Roy, the TMC panchayat member from Bakhra Vitta, which is under the Phulbari-1 gram panchayat.

“After I brought my wife home on Jun 28, the local people pressured me to face a kangaroo court. I wanted to talk to the panchayat member but they did not listen. My wife consumed pesticide minutes after they humiliated and thrashed her on June 29,” said the victim’s husband, who has two sons.

Shambu Roy, husband of Malati Roy, the panchayat member, said: “The deceased had eloped with another man earlier as well. Local people did not want to keep her in the village after she returned home on June 28. Some local women thrashed the woman but this was natural.”

Speaking in defence of the villagers landed Shambhu Roy in the cross hairs of the Opposition while Malati Roy claimed that she was not even aware of the kangaroo trial.

“I was busy in a meeting at the local club when all these things happened. I was not aware at all,” said Malati Roy.

The officer-in-charge of New Jalpaiguri police station said: “Nobody has lodged any complaint against the local panchayat member.”

BJP state general secretary and legislator Agnimitra Paul said: “These kangaroo courts and series of lynching have exposed the lawlessness in Bengal. Women are no longer safe.”

Countering the BJP, TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said: ”The nation has witnessed incidents like Unnao and Hathras in BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh. Our police and administration have taken action in all the cases. BJP leaders need not worry about Bengal.”

Alapan Bandopadhyay, chief advisor to chief minister Mamata Banerjee, announced on Tuesday afternoon that the government would pay a compensation of ₹2 lakh each to the families of those who were lynched. Also, a member of each family would be recruited as home guards.