West Bengal police biased in action, alleges BJP report

NEW DELHI: The three-member fact-finding BJP committee sent to Bhatpara in West Bengal to look into the death of two persons --Ram Babu Shaw and Dharam Veer Shaw -- in police firing on June 21has concluded that the state administration acted in a partisan manner towards the majority community.

The panel comprising MPs SS Ahluwalia (Durgapur), Satyapal Singh (Baghpat) and former Jharkhand DGP VD Ram- visited Bhatpara on June 22, and submitted their report to BJP president and Union home minister Amit Shah in the Parliament House on Tuesday evening.

The members, talking about their visit, said they were first stopped by the West Bengal officials at the Kolkata airport soon after they landed on June 22. Ahluwalia said the administration told them that Section 144 has been imposed in Bhatpara in the aftermath of the violence and it is advisable that they do not visit the affected area. However, the three leaders went ahead with their plans and visited Bhatpara.


“We met the family members of the two victims who were poor street vendors. It was shocking to see their plight,” Ahluwalia said.

The panel has indicated in its report that there was a clash between members of two communities and the police was partial towards the minority community. The two were not members of any political party and were killed in police firing while they were setting up shop.“Members of two religious groups clashed on June 21 in Bhatpara. While the police fired on one group, it only used lathis against the other… Police were partial towards one community,” Ahluwalia alleged. Asked about reports that the two victims came in the line of police fire while the latter were trying to control the situation, the panel members said how they could have been hit on the head by bullets that the cops claim to have fired in the air.

BJP will issue a public statement on the report later. The panel members said they tried to meet the government officials to get their views but did not get a proper response from them.

The BJP report states that Bhatpara is a sensitive area as a government Ordinance factory that makes INSAS rifles and SLRs is located there. Any disturbance to peace or a communal conflict can have serious repercussions.