Government offices attacked during SIR hearings in West Bengal

Locals, enraged over the ongoing Special Investigating Agency (SIR) in West Bengal, have attacked two offices of Block Development Officers (BDO) in the state over the past two days. While locals led by a Trinamool Congress MLA attacked a BDO office in Farakka on Wednesday, a mob vandalized the BDO office in Chakulia in Uttar Dinajpur district.

“An agitated crowd of about 300 people forcibly entered the office building, rushed to the office building at 9:30 am and destroyed several infrastructures of office buildings and various sections,” BDO Chakulia’s police complaint said.

The complaint added that properties worth around ₹20 lakh were destroyed by the mob during the attack. “Later, a mob forcibly stormed into the office building and started destroying all infrastructure, office accessories, electronic gadgets and various office documents from various sections such as Relief Department, Social Security Department, SHG, NRLM Section and more. After destroying the physical items, they set fire to all the broken and torn materials inside and outside the office premises, resulting in significant damage to the office,” the complaint said.

A senior police officer said the officer-in-charge of Chakulia police station was injured in the violence. He added that police had to resort to violence to disperse the crowd.

West Bengal’s Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal described the violence as a “sporadic incident” and said the matter has been brought to the attention of the highest levels of the West Bengal government. The WB CEO, from his official social contact, shared the links to the two FIRs filed in connection with the violence at Chakulia BDO office.

“Chief Secretary GoWB and DGP WBP have ensured flawless security arrangements at SIR hearing venues,” said the post on social media platform ‘X’

Meanwhile, five persons were arrested during the violence at the BDO office in Farakka in Murshidabad district. The FIR did not name the Farakka MLA as Monirul Islam even though the MLA was present during the vandalism at the BDO office. “I don’t accept SIR, I don’t accept it,” the MLA saw slogans rising.

Reacting to the vandalism, Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said such incidents should not happen but added that the people are being harassed in the name of SIR. Mr Banerjee threatened to protest if the list of logical discrepancies was not made public by the ECI.

“If the ECI does not publish a logical discrepancy list, democratic protests will take place in Kolkata and Delhi. Why has Bengal been singled out? Despite asking several times, we have not received any answers. When the protests start, Gyanesh Kumar will realize the power of Bengal,” Mr Banerjee said on Wednesday.

“After the removal of around 58 lakh names in the first phase of the SIR, the ECI has issued notices to around 1.36 million people in the state over ‘logical discrepancies’. These persons have been summoned to appear before the ECI.”

West Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya said that when the state’s chief minister urges people to focus on ECI, such incidents are bound to happen. The BJP leader said the violence in the BDO offices reflects the state of lawlessness in the state.