Murshidabad violence: Net services restored in several places, prohibitory orders continue

Kolkata, April 16 (IANS) The situation in the minority-dominated Murshidabad of West Bengal, which has been on the boil since last week after protests against the newly-promulgated Waqf (Amendment) Bill turned violent, has moved one more step forward towards normalcy with the Internet services being restored in most parts of the district.

The Net services were suspended earlier this week. However, the suspension of Internet service is continuing at Samserganj, which had been the most troubled pocket and where a father and son, Hargobindo Das and Chandan Das, were hacked by the violent protesters last week.

At the same time, prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, will continue in the troubled pockets in the district for some time. However, insiders from the district administration said that depending on the situation and if further improvements in the situation are witnessed, the prohibitory order might be lifted later in the day or on Thursday.

As per district administration figures, around 500 families left their homes in Murshidabad following the tension and violence last week, and of them, the administration has been able to ensure the return of 200 families to their respective homes during the last couple of days.

However, the local people have accused the district administration of under-quoting the figures of the displaced families, and they claimed that the figure would be nothing less than 1,000.

Most of the displaced families took shelter in the adjacent Malda district, and as claimed by the local people, some even took shelter in Jharkhand.

The local people admitted that the situation has started becoming normal because of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), who were deployed on April 12 following an order of a special division bench of Calcutta High Court on the same evening.

In fact, in its order, the division bench also observed that had the CAPF deployment been done earlier, the situation would not have been so “grave” and “volatile”. In the order copy, the special division bench also observed that the measures taken by the West Bengal government initially to control communal unrest in Murshidabad over protests against the Waqf Act were inadequate.

--IANS

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