Political row erupts in West Bengal after fourth police encounter since July; CM Suvendu Adhikari cites self-defence

Kolkata: A political row erupted in West Bengal on Monday over the alleged fourth encounter, with the Opposition calling it a "violation of human rights", while Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari defended the police personnel, saying they were entitled to retaliate in self-defence rather than keep their weapons in their pockets.

This comes after the prime suspect in the alleged rape and murder of a minor girl in Raiganj, North Dinajpur district, was killed in a police encounter during the intervening night of Sunday and Monday, people in the know said.

Dilip Roy, the alleged accused in the rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl in Raiganj, allegedly fired at the police team that had gone to arrest him at a village in Raiganj. Roy was rushed to Raiganj Medical College and Hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival. No policeman was injured in the incident. The semi-decomposed body of the minor girl was recovered on November 6 from the nearby Kulik forest, after she had been missing for more than two days.


The Raiganj incident is reportedly the fourth police encounter in the state since July. Of these, three were linked to allegations of rape and murder of minors.

The first such incident took place in July, when Prabhas Mondal, accused of raping and murdering a six-year-old girl in South 24 Parganas, was shot in an encounter. The police claimed that during the reconstruction of the crime scene, Mondal had snatched a police officer's gun and opened fire. The police retaliated, killing the accused.

In October, Prahlad Das, accused of raping and murdering a 17-year-old girl in Gaighata, was killed in a similar encounter following retaliatory firing by the police. On the same day, Samiul Sheikh, who had been arrested for allegedly murdering a BJP worker in Samserganj in Murshidabad district, was also killed in an encounter.

Meanwhile, Mamata-AITC MP Abhishek Banerjee, in a post on X, said, "Encounter after encounter, yet rapes continue unabated. This is the grim reality of the BJP's much-advertised Jungle Raj model. In yet another horrifying incident, today again an eight-year-old girl was allegedly abducted in Bhatar, Purba Bardhaman and raped."