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Surjyapur (Bengal): The village lanes of Surjyapur, usually bustling, are eerie in the monsoon rain on July 6. Rapid Action Force and central paramilitary units patrol the lanes to enforce Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, applicable across the contiguous zones that come under the jurisdictions of the Baruipur, Narendrapur, and Sonarpur police stations

The village, in the Dhopdhopi II Gram Panchayat, located within the South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, has been playing host to an extent of tension and violence which it has not seen in recent times. 

Surjyapur. Photo: Anwesha Banerjee.

On July 5, local youths pulled a bound sack from the shallow water of the Surjyapur pond and found the mutilated body of an 11-year-old schoolgirl who had been missing since the evening before – inaugurating the latest tragedy that acts as a grim indicator of a persistent crisis in Bengal’s law and order machinery. 

Just two months ago, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept to power in the state on a platform of restoring women’s safety and ending administrative complacency. 

Since then, at least eight incidents of sexual crimes have rocked the state. The unfolding horror in Baruipur proves that changing political colours has done little to alter systemic failures. The reaction to the crime also shows the extent to which events are now seen through a communal lens, with the chief minister, Suvendu Adhikari, likening the protests in the aftermath of the crime to the “anti-CAA and anti-Waqf Bill” agitations.

The minor’s family have two houses, both of which The Wire visited, and both extremely modest. Her father, who runs a small business, sat in a corner of the Surjyapur house, visibly disturbed and almost unable to speak. The girl’s grandfather and mother were at the family’s . 

“After our lunch [on July 5], we were having a nap. At around 4 pm she told me that she is going out to play and buy a gift for her friend’s birthday. Those were the last words we exchanged,” the girl’s mother recounted softly.

The house near the Surjyapur main road, where the girl’s father was, remained quiet as political leaders like CP(I)M’s Sujan Chakraborty and Trinamool Congress MP Dola Sen arrived. 

“We will not allow this to be another Abhaya case,” Chakraborty said, referring to the moniker used for the junior doctor who was raped and murdered at Kolkata’s R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in 2024. The junior doctor’s mother, Ratna Debnath, is now a Bharatiya Janata Party MLA.

“We will fight for justice and will be on the street unless we are getting it,” Chakraborty added.

The minor........

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