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Surjyapur (Bengal): More than 12 days after an 11-year-old girl’s body was found at a pond in the village, Surjyapur is still waiting for justice. 

But in this village in the under the DhopDhopi II Gram Panchayat of Baruipur in the South 24 Parganas district, the demand for answers has been overtaken by violence, fear, and growing communal mistrust.

On July 5, hours after the minor’s body was discovered, angry villagers lynched Indrajit Tanti Mandal, an autorickshaw driver named in the first information report in connection with her gangrape and murder. By July 11, Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had given a job letter to Indrajit’s brother and a cheque for Rs 25 lakh cheque to his family. He described Mandal as an “innocent” man who had been targeted “because of his name and identity.”

The chief minister’s declaration came amidst the arrests of several Muslim men in the locality, purportedly over their involvement in the protests.

Meanwhile, in the early hours of July 8, Prabhas Mondal, one of the key accused was killed in police firing.

Villagers in Surjyapur say that Muslim men have been leaving their homes and taking shelter elsewhere. Many of their family members said that they were worried about how to continue to live in the village. 

Surjyapur, 12 days after the crime that resulted in the gangrape and murder of a 11-year-old girl. Photo: Anwesha Banerjee.

Most of the men forced to be absent are daily-wage labourers, construction workers, vegetable sellers or hawkers. Their earnings go towards food, school fees, medicines and private tuition. With the key earning members away, several families are helpless. 

A woman in her early thirties, the mother of four young children, spoke to The Wire requesting to be anonymous. “My husband works as a helper in construction sites. He gets around Rs 300 per day. We don’t have much savings. He has been forced to stay away for the last 10 days. No one will give us rice, pulses and oil on credit,” she said.

Her anxiety echoed in other houses this reporter visited. Asked why the men had left their families, several women gave almost identical answers. “Police will pick them up in fake cases or charges otherwise. We are Muslims and are always unnecessarily targeted by them,” the mother quoted above said.

Residents said the initial protests over the girl’s rape and murder had had not been divided along religious lines. Hindus and Muslims had joined........

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