Throat slit, young girl’s face set on fire in West Bengal’s Basirhat; TMC remains tight-lipped

The body of a young girl, most probably in her teens, was found in gory circumstances in West Bengal’s Bashirhat, North 24-Parganas, on September 26, her face already on fire when a passerby discovered the remains.

This region of West Bengal is notorious for all sorts of smuggling, including human trafficking. The police, locals, as well as, independent volunteers working to rescue girls suspect the young woman was either abducted or stumbled across such damning information about active trafficking gangs that she has to be silenced.

The body was found, according to Baduria Police, in Swaroopnagar, just a stone’s throw from the international India-Bangladesh border. A BSF chowki is not far from where the remains of the girl were discovered.

“The body of the girl was found early morning of September 26,” said Devdutta Maji, who heads volunteer organisation ‘Singh Bahini’.

“It was a very disturbing sight. Her face was already on fire when she was found. From the looks of it, she had been bound like an animal. Hands and feet tied and a wooden pole running across, which her captors and murderers must have used to hoisted her,” Maji said.

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“There was a deep gash across her throat,” Maji added. He is pursuing the case with the police and the local authorities.

“The girl seems to be a Hindu,” Maji told Firstpost, speculating on the basis of what, according to him, appeared to be ‘kalava’ or Hindu sacred thread on one of the victim’s wrists.

Maji, an activist involved in rescuing abducted or trafficked Hindu girls across the state, suggested that the murder could either have a love jihad angle or a hate crime.

“As usual, the police would want to bury this case too. If investigated rigorously, we suspect the young girl was also raped,” Maji claimed, adding, “Since TMC has come to power, girls in the state have fallen on bad days.”

“The body seems to be that of a young girl,” Baduria Police told Firstpost, circumspect about letting out any politically incorrect statement. “Her throat has been slit; face was burned. We did not find any accelerant near the body, but, yes, a lighter. She was wearing ‘mehndi’ on her palms. Altogether, the victim seems to be from a relatively affluent family, given her clothes,” sub-divisional police officer Abhijit Singh Mahapatra said.

The SDPO told Firstpost the body had been sent for post-mortem examination; the report is awaited. “We would be able to conclusively say anything about what happened with the girl and what circumstances she died in only after we get the post-mortem exam report.”

BJP targets Mamata Banerjee

Meanwhile, a political slugfest has broken out on the issue. While BJP’s Suvendu Adkhikari targeted the TMC government and chief minister Mamata Banerjee for being selective in their outrage when it came to crimes against women, the latter defended, saying the police was investigating the matter.

Thanks to our Debogram team of Nadia district for efficiently organising a Blood Donation camp.
After the Blood Donation we burnt effigy of Trinamool MP @MahuaMoitra for her anti Hindu statements insulting MAA KALI and also her muteness towards growing Love Jihad, human… pic.twitter.com/4c3x9scljJ

— Devdutta Maji (Modi Ji Ka Pariwar). (@MajiDevDutta) September 28, 2023

BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said: “West Bengal is a state which is considered to be of ‘Maa, Maati, Maanush’. Because of TMC, it is now a land of ‘Bomb, bullet and (Injustice to) beti’. There is a government of TMC, ‘Talibani Mindset and Culture’. This is the same government, under which multiple women were victims of revenge rape in the name of post-poll violence in 2021. And all types of attempts were made to save these criminals…”