Sitalkuchi victims’ kin trash CISF self-defence claims – Times of India

COOCH BEHAR: Jobed Ali rushed out of his home and headed to Aamtali primary school on hearing from somebody that a boy from his village had been thrashed by central forces deployed at the election booth. Little did his family know he would not ever return.
“We had no clue what had happened and why he left in such a hurry. He died in firing because he wanted to save a fellow villager who was in distress. This is so unexpected,” said Maqbul Miya, a co-villager.
Ali and three others —Chhalmu Mia, Amzad Hossain and Nameed Mia — died after central forces fired at a mob following a clash near a polling booth on Saturday. While the forces claimed they had been attacked by the 300-strong mob, some of them wielding sharp instruments, and were forced to fire in selfdefence, villagers denied the attack and claimed the firing was deliberate.
As the bodies were ferried into Mathabhanga hospital, hundreds of villagers from Joroatki village under Mathabhanga I panchayat samiti converged there, seething with anger at the security forces. Three others were admitted at the hospital with injuries from the incident: Binoy Barman who had a bullet lodged in his thigh, Alomgir Alom who had splinter injuries from a bomb blast, and Manirul Haque who had suffered blunt trauma.
Wailing loudly to mourn the deaths, the villagers blamed the CISF for the violence and insisted that a boy had been beaten by the forces.
“What happened was completely unexpected and sudden. The men who have died aren’t criminals. But they died like criminals. The administration should thoroughly inquire into the incident,” said local Habiul Alam.
Some 15 km away at Pathantuli village, near the Indo-Bangla border, another family was mourning the death of an 18-year-old. First-time voter Ananda Barman was ecstatic when he had left his house on Saturday morning to cast his vote. According to his father Jagdish Barman, Ananda was so excited about voting that he had barely caught a wink the previous night.
“He was eager to cast his vote to the party he supported. Who knew that his first vote would have become his last one,” Jagdish lamented.
Ananda’s maternal uncle Ajit Roy claimed that Ananda did not have any feud with anyone and was bewildered over the incident. Ananda was exiting a polling booth after casting his vote when bikeborne assailants fired at him, killing him on the spot.