West Bengal Violence: 15 held, internet shut down after clashes between two groups in Murshidabad

Two groups of people clashed over an alleged objectionable message on a digital display board at a temporary gate at Beldanga in Murshidabad district, prompting the authorities to clamp prohibitory orders in the area, police said on Sunday.

Fifteen people allegedly involved in the clash were arrested, while internet services were suspended in the affected area.

A few people suffered minor injuries during the clash that occurred after the message on the display board on a gate set up near a Kartik Puja pandal came to the notice of the members of one of the groups, a police officer said.

The BJP has accused the Mamata Banerjee administration of inaction as, the party claimed, the miscreants "belonged to a certain group".

Trouble began late Saturday night when a group of youths assembled near a Kartik puja pandal alleging that an objectionable message hurting their sentiments popped up on the digital display board on the gate erected for the festival.

Another group gathered there soon and both sides threw stones at each other, a police officer said.

Several shops and houses were vandalized and crude bombs were used in the clash. A police vehicle also came under attack prompting the personnel to lathi-charge the mobs.

The situation was finally brought under control in the early morning hours but tension prevailed in the area. Shops did not open while the police and Rapid Action Force personnel patrolled different pockets.

A senior police official said prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) have been promulgated in Beldanga and adjacent Kazisaha and Begurban areas while internet services were suspended in the area.

The Murshidabad town-bound Bhagirathi Express from Sealdah was stranded for several hours as the clash took place near the station, the officer said.

Accusing the state government of inaction, BJP state president and Union minister Sukanta Majumdar said in a post on X: "The state administration has failed to protect people as miscreants..... Have let loose a reign of anarchy in the entire area. Is this part of a deeper plan to turn West Bengal into Bangladesh?" He called upon the people of Beldanga not to "fall prey to anyone's provocation and urged the police to bring peace in the area".

A senior TMC leader said the situation is under control now and the administration is taking every step to identify the mischief makers and bring all of them to book and the BJP should not play its “divisive, communal” politics.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from PTI)