Surjyapur (West 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 stationsThe 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.Police inactionThe 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 victim’s family has alleged that police paid little attention to the initial missing complaint. “We had rushed to lodge a missing person complaint at around 8:30 pm on Saturday, July 4, after the child failed to return home. But the police paid absolutely no attention to our desperate pleas,” claimed a close relative of the girl.The relative, who claimed to be a cousin, said that police told the family that they would look into it the next day. “My cousin was alive when she was drowned. Had the police acted earlier, this could have been avoided,” the cousin said. Villagers scan CCTV footageDesperate to trace her, locals began scanning closed-circuit television footage of nearby commercial establishments themselves. By late evening, villagers spotted footage of the minor being guided away from the public road by an individual. Locals identified him as Prabhas Mondal, a rickshaw puller who was known to the minor victim. A massive crowd marched into Mondal’s house at 4 am on Sunday, July 5.Villagers said that faced with the angry mob, Mondal told them that the girl’s body would be found at the pond. Only then did police personnel accompany villagers to the pond and help in efforts to recover her body. The Surjyapur Railway Station. Photo: Anwesha Banerjee.‘Trafficking’Several locals who spoke to The Wire said that police had been dealing lightly with anti-social elements.Two high-ranking police officers that The Wire spoke to said that it appears as if Sardar had targeted the victim specifically. South 24 Parganas remains one of the most severely affected child trafficking zones in the country. “Our investigation indicates that the girl was initially kidnapped for trafficking. The Anti-Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) has joined the investigation,” the senior police officer told The Wire.The other senior police officer said that it appears likely that the trafficking plan was foiled when the minor protested or tried to escape. “Ananda Sardar seems to have been known to the victim and appears to have been keeping an eye on her for more than a month,” he said.The initial post-mortem report speaks of evidence of aggravated sexual assault, severe head injuries, and antemortem drowning. The official cause of death was ruled as a combination of head injuries and drowning, confirming that the child was still breathing when she was thrown into the water.‘Release’ of accused leads to more anger On the morning of July 5, the discovery of the body triggered explosive public outrage. Hundreds of villagers blocked the Baruipur–Jaynagar Road, setting tires on fire and vandalising police vehicles to demand the immediate arrest of the culprits. Police initially picked up Prabhas Mondal, along with the man who has turned out to be the main accused, Ananda Sardar, and another, Indrajit Tati, but allowed all three to go.This move attracted the ire of locals who alleged that the release was because the three maintained close relations with the state’s ruling party. By the afternoon of Sunday, the outrage focused heavily on the residence of Shantanu Mandal, the BJP Mandal Sabhapati of Baruipur Paschim Unit Three consisting of in charge of Shankarpur 1, Shankarpur 2, and the Dhopdhopi Gram Panchayats’ 74 polling stations. Locals said Mandal has used his political clout to pressure the local police into releasing Ananda Sardar and the others.The shattered window of Indrajit Tati’s house. Photo: Anwesha Banerjee.Man who helped transport minor lynchedBy the mid-morning of July 5, villagers had cornered Indrajit Tanti, the 26-year-old auto driver in whose vehicle the minor had allegedly been abducted. Before security forces could effectively intervene, a crowd surrounded Tanti and beat him to death. Police at the scene were violently repelled by a hail of brickbats and stones, leaving several officers injured. A sub-inspector sustained severe head injuries.At Tanti’s house, his 65-year-old mother said that her son was being falsely implicated. “My son did nothing. They killed him. Police set him free and they lynched him,” she said.“Those who did the crime, nothing happened to them,” she added.BJP leader’s house vandalisedBy the time night fell on July 5, the crowd also launched a violent raid on Shantanu Mandal’s house. When The Wire visited the house, it stood completely vandalised. A smashed motorcycle lay in the mud, utensils were scattered across the yard, and bare window frames completely stripped of their panes looked out onto the empty property. Mandal and his parents have since fled to an undisclosed destination, and are reportedly being given police protection.An elderly woman who runs a stationery shop nearby defended Mandal, claiming he was a helpful man who had initially assisted the victim’s father in search efforts.A poster of Biswajit Paul on the wall of Shantanu Mandal’s house. Photo: Anwesha Banerjee.Biswajit Paul, a BJP leader who fought against Biman Banerjee of the TMC from Baruipur Paschim in the last assembly polls and lost to the latter, echoed this version. He said over the phone, “Shantanu Mandal caught hold of one of the accused, Prabhash, and handed him over to the police.” Paul also refuted the claim that Shantanu Mandal had a role to play in the release of the accused. “Ananda was inside the police post and escaped through the window. CPI(M) and others are spreading misinformation to malign us,” he said.However, another BJP worker of the village, who requested anonymity, gave a very different picture. “Shantanu has actually helped in searching for the victim. Later, he went to the police post to free the accused as they are close to BJP and Ananda is an active member of the party. What’s so wrong with it?”Claims of communal responsesIn and around Surjyapur, condemnation of the ghastly crime has united people from all religious communities. However, the reaction to the crowd’s response has varied along communal lines.Some residents of the Tyaka region, adjacent to Surjapur Haat, which is predominantly Hindu majority claimed that Shantanu Mandal’s home was vandalised because of his Hindu identity.On the other hand, some members of the Muslim community said that the cry for justice had been muted because the minor victim belonged to the Muslim community. “Had the accused belonged to our community, by now all the homes of the accused would have been bulldozed,” said a man who refused to be named.By Monday afternoon, July 6, as police teams and a newly deployed six-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) continued their search operations, a body of another man, missing since Friday, was recovered from the same waterbody. Ananda Sardar was arrested on the afternoon of July 6.Kankar Prasad Barui, inspector general of South Bengal, said police have got 14 days’ custody for two of the accused – Prabhash Mondal and Dibakar Sardar. “Ananda will be produced before the POCSO court today,” Barui said.Shantanu Mandal’s house, after it was vandalised. Photo: Anwesha Banerjee.The accused are booked under sections 65 (rape), 70(2) (gang-rape), 103(1) (murder), 238 (destruction of evidence), 61 (criminal conspiracy), and 137(2) and 140(2) for the kidnapping of a minor, alongside Section 6 of the POCSO Act for aggravated penetrative sexual assault.Police have filed three more FIRs against the mob lynching and injury to the police.Traveling through the village with a loudspeaker, the IG assured residents that the police would ensure exemplary punishment for all perpetrators. Yet, for the people of Surjyapur, the massive paramilitary presence on their streets is a hollow comfort, a heavy-handed show of security that arrived only after a child was lost.PoliticsIn Kolkata, former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, claiming she was placed under a de facto house arrest by state forces to prevent her from traveling to the village, led a candlelight procession seeking immediate justice for the child.Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari defended the state’s actions while framing the subsequent public riots as a coordinated conspiracy. “The police and the STF are working under the overall leadership of the Inspector General of Police. We will co-operate with the victim’s family in all possible manners,” Adhikari declared.Adhikari’s response to the violence had distinct communal overtones. “There were other forces behind the mob violence. The way the railway tracks were uprooted reminds me of the earlier anti-CAA and anti-Waqf Bill protests. Two CRPF personnel were injured, and a police vehicle was set on fire. Those who were defeated in the elections and have since gone into hiding, the dissatisfied souls, are involved in these three incidents. They will have to pay for it. We will make them suffer in such a way that they will understand,” Adhikari said.