A murdered 11-year-old, a mob killing, a police shooting and a political fight have left West Bengal tense and raw, with trust in the system badly shaken.
West Bengal has been on edge for days after the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl in Baruipur, on the outskirts of Kolkata. Her body was found in a pond on Sunday, a day after her family reported her missing, and the case has since set off violent protests, street anger and a fast-moving political row.
The child had gone out on Saturday afternoon to buy a birthday gift for a friend, according to her family. When she did not return, relatives went to the police station that night, but villagers later said officers did not take the plea seriously and told them they would look into it the next day.
That delay has become central to the outrage. Family members and villagers searched CCTV footage themselves and found the girl walking with a local man, Prabhash Mondal, who was later killed by police. Early on Sunday, a mob went to his home, caught him and handed him over to officers.
A few hours later, the girl’s body was recovered from the pond. Media reports said Mondal had led police to the spot, and the post-mortem reportedly showed drowning as the cause of death. Relatives say that means she may still have been alive when she was dumped in the water.
“Had the police acted earlier, she could have been saved,” her relatives said.
The case has now become a political storm as well. Opposition parties have accused the newly elected Bharatiya Janata Party government in West Bengal of failing to protect women, while the BJP has rejected that charge. The issue is especially sensitive because the party campaigned heavily on women’s safety before winning power in May.
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Police have amended the complaint to include charges under POCSO, India’s child sexual abuse law, and the government has formed a special investigation team. But the force has not yet held a press conference on the case or publicly answered the main allegations, leaving a vacuum that anger has rushed to fill.
That anger turned violent. A mob vandalised roads, shops and a railway station, and one young man was beaten to death. Police officers were injured, vehicles were damaged, and 40 people were detained as authorities imposed a ban on public gatherings and brought in heavy police and paramilitary deployment.
Then came the killing of Mondal in what police described as an encounter during crime scene reconstruction. Officers said he snatched a firearm, opened fire and was shot during the return fire, but rights activists and opposition figures have called the account suspicious.
His mother told ANI that she would not accept his body. “My son has been punished for what he did. I will not accept his body,” she said.
The case has also picked at old wounds in West Bengal, where safety, policing and political trust are already deeply strained. For now, the village remains tense, and the bigger question is not only what happened to the child, but whether the state can still convince people it is in control.
