Kolkata, Nov 9 — West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday defended the police encounter in which a rape and murder accused, Dilip Roy, was killed in Raiganj. The Chief Minister asserted that law enforcement agencies have been given a free hand to deal with those involved in heinous crimes against women.
Dilip Roy was accused of raping and killing a 12-year-old girl on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday at Raiganj in North Dinajpur district of West Bengal.
CM Adhikari also cautioned that in the future too, criminals involved in such heinous crimes against women will meet a similar fate.
“The cops are provided with firearms not just to keep them as a showpiece or to keep them in their pockets. Drug mafias, rapists, and infiltrators have no place in this state,” the Chief Minister said while interacting with the media persons on Monday afternoon at the sidelines of a programme at Digha in his native district of East Midnapore.
He also indirectly attacked those who are raising their voices against such encounters.
“Some people are continuing with such activities. Among them are 'Dimagi Naxals', ‘Jamaatis' and ‘Communists'. There are cockroaches and bedbugs. Our nationalists have to be careful about them. The police have been given free hand to tackle rapists & murderers, drug smugglers and infiltrators. We are maintaining a zero-tolerance approach in such cases,” the Chief Minister said.
Meanwhile, the North Dinajpur District Police claimed that the accused killed in the encounter have a history of crime against women. “Earlier, he was accused twice of sexual offenses. However, he managed to escape arrest and punishment on both occasions for some reasons,” said a district police officer.
According to him, three years back, Roy was accused of sexual harassment at Kamtabari-2 Gram Panchayat area in the North Dinajpur district. A couple of years ago, there were similar allegations against him in the Sialmani area in the same district.
“On both these occasions, the matter was settled at a local Kangaroo Court, and the complaint did not reach the police level,” the district police officer said.
This is the fourth encounter killing in West Bengal since July this year, three of which are related to minors' rape & murder cases.
First, in July, Prabhas Mondal, accused of raping and murdering a six-year-old girl in Baruipur in South 24 Parganas, was shot dead by the police in an encounter. The police claimed that he was taken to the crime scene to reconstruct the crime. From there, he snatched the police gun and opened fire. The police resorted to counter-firing in self-defence, killing the accused.
After that, in October, Prahlad Das, accused in the rape & murder of a 17-year-old girl at Gaighata in South 24 Parganas district, was killed in a similar encounter following retaliatory firing by the police. In this case too, it was alleged that the accused tried to escape while reenacting the incident.
On the same day, Samiul Sheikh, who was arrested for murdering a BJP worker in Samserganj in Murshidabad district, was killed in an encounter. The Raiganj incident is the fourth on the list of encounters since July.