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 the road blockade and demanded justice together. The anger was directed at the crime and what villagers described as the police’s initial failure to act. As The Wire has reported from the ground, residents had to check CCTV footage themselves to trace where the girl may have been taken and by whom. Many Muslim residents now believe that the police response has transformed that united protest into a case directed overwhelmingly against their community.The Surjyapur main road. Photo: Anwesha Banerjee.A woman in her early twenties said, “Both Hindus and Muslims were part of the crowd when one of the accused was beaten to death. But now the police are arresting only men from the minority community over the lynching.”Police have arrested 42 people so far across the cases arising from the protests and the violence that followed. As on July 15, eight people had been arrested specifically in connection with the lynching of Indrajit.The mother of Abdur Rafique, who was arrested a few days earlier, described the raid at her house late at night on July 7. “It was dead at night. Hundreds of police and other personnel came to our village and picked him up. I asked them, ‘What did he do?’ They did not answer. My husband is unable to move because of a medical problem in his spinal cord. My daughter-in-law is young and has two little children. My son was the sole earning member in the family of seven. How should we survive?” she asked.The arrests have created fear even among those who have not been directly affected. Several residents said they would now hesitate to participate in any protest, regardless of the seriousness of the crime.A 22-year-old woman said, “In protests against any sorts of crimes, Muslims are targeted. The accused are getting a clean chit from the government! So why should we stand by others?”Another elderly woman said that the incident had generated a sense of fear among people.The political handling of Indrajit’s death, by no less a person than the chief minister has intensified mistrust. Residents questioned how such a categorical declaration on his innocence could be made while the investigation was still underway, particularly when the girl’s father said he had named Mandal in the FIR.Two women who spoke to The Wire in Surjyapur, but refused to be identified or photographed from the front in the article. Photo: Anwesha Banerjee.Several villagers alleged that arrests of Muslim men accelerated after the government’s announcements. The Wire sent questions to Kankar Prasad Barui, Inspector General of the Presidency Range who is overseeing the full investigation and to Arvind Anand, Superintendent of Police of Baruipur Police District, seeking an update on the investigation into the girl’s rape and murder, including whether investigators had established a motive for the crime. The police were also asked to respond to residents’ allegations that Muslim men were being picked up without evidence or sufficient reason. This report will be updated when we receive a response.A local Left leader is arrestedAmidst this, the arrest of a local leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Lahek Ali has further deepened anger in Surjyapur. Ali, a teacher known for providing free tuition to children from poor families, was arrested on July 12 on allegations that he had incited violence during the protests.Police booked him under sections of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, the Maintenance of Public Order Act, and the Indian Railways Act.Ali has denied the allegations and described his arrest as politically motivated.His lawyer, Sayan Banerjee, told The Wire, “Lahek Ali stood by the victim’s family. There was always at least one police officer present with him during the visits. When did he instigate violence? In reality, the Suvendu Adhikari-led BJP government is implicating protesters in false cases to intimidate them.”Wall writing for Lahek Ali in Surjyapur. Photo: Anwesha Banerjee.Villagers across religious lines offered an account sharply different from the allegations against Ali. They claimed that he had not instigated the crowd but had instead helped the police and administration calm protesters when the situation threatened to spiral into wider violence.“He was picked up solely for his religion,” said a local resident who identified himself only as Ramkrishna. “All of us have seen his role that day. Police were not equipped enough to stop a riot-like situation that day. Lahek Ali managed everything and helped calm the protesters. Yet he was arrested.”The Wire spoke to two more people, Rana Mandal and Gopal Sardar, who said the same things.A visible mistrust where none existedThe anger over Ali’s arrest has cut across religious lines. Yet that shared anger now exists alongside increasingly visible mistrust between communities. Residents fear that the political and police response to a horrific crime against a child is deepening divisions in the village that initially protested together.Meanwhile, the investigation into the girl’s rape and murder appears to have receded from public discussion. The lynching of Mandal, the arrests that followed, Ali’s imprisonment, the police killing of Prabhas in an alleged encounter and the political declarations surrounding the case have taken centre stage.Residents said they were still waiting to learn the motive behind the child’s murder and whether all those responsible would be identified and prosecuted.A woman taking her children to a nearby school asked, “What kind of investigation is going on? Now all the discussion is about the mob lynching, Lahek Ali’s arrest and the encounter killing of an accused. Do you really think anyone still cares about justice for the little girl?”A policeman in Surjyapur. Photo: Anwesha Banerjee.Girl’s father says he has full faith in the policeThe minor’s father, however, said he was satisfied with how the investigation was progressing. He has been offered a job in the state’s Correctional Services Department.“That night, Baruipur police did not help us, but the outpost did. The investigation is now underway, and I am keeping my hope alive that we will get justice. Dada – Suvendu Adhikari – has promised us justice,” he said.The father said those accused in the case were known in the locality and alleged that they were heavily addicted to drugs and alcohol. He also confirmed that he had named Indrajit Mandal in the FIR.“I named him in the FIR. Now the police are investigating. I have full faith in them,” he said.The father’s confidence stands in contrast to the deepening scepticism elsewhere in Surjyapur. While he continues to hope that the investigation will establish the truth, many residents believe the original crime is being buried beneath political claims, arrests and competing narratives over the violence that followed.The case has raised wider questions about policing in South 24 Parganas, where police sources said more than 50 missing-person cases remained under investigation in Baruipur alone. The region has also faced repeated allegations involving human trafficking and illegal kidney-trafficking networks.In Surjyapur, the demand for justice has not disappeared, but it has been buried beneath another fear that protesting a crime may expose residents to raids, arrests and political retaliation.