THE brutal rape and murder of an 11-year-old schoolgirl in Baruipur, South 24 Parganas, in the first week of July, has exposed a harrowing breakdown of law and order and the deeply entrenched criminalisation of politics in West Bengal. On a Saturday afternoon, the Class VI student stepped out to buy a birthday gift for her friend. She never returned.

On Sunday morning, the minor's body was recovered from a swamp, knee-deep in mud and hidden behind bushes, near the railway tracks in Suryapur. The badly mutilated body of the young girl was found stuffed inside a 25-kg sack. The recovery was made following leads from the information provided by Probhas Mondal, one of the prime accused in the case. Subsequently, in a classic copy-book police encounter, Mondal was shot dead by the police. The preliminary post-mortem report revealed a chilling detail: there was water in her lungs, meaning the child was still alive when she was packed into the sack and thrown into the water.  This is not just another tragic story of gender violence. Beneath the surface lies a grim web of police inaction, high-profile political interference, and a mysterious custodial "encounter." The burning question remains: is this justice, or a calculated cover-up?

ADMINISTRATIVE INACTION

When the child failed to return by Saturday evening, panic gripped her family. They rushed to the Baruipur police station around 7:45 PM, but the police allegedly dismissed the complaint with zero urgency. What followed was a damning indictment of the state machinery — it wasn’t the police, but the local citizens, cutting across religious and political lines, who launched a night-long search. While the citizens demonstrated exemplary collective action, the administration’s inaction cost a young life. The ugly underbelly of local politics surfaced right after the suspects were rounded up. The locals explicitly alleged on camera that Shantanu Mondal, a local BJP Mandal president, intervened immediately. He reportedly pressured the local police outpost to release the prime suspects simply because they were active party workers.

As news of this political shield spread, public fury erupted. Thousands of residents blocked the main Baruipur-Joynagar highway, and police vehicles were vandalized. Although Mondal was eventually arrested under immense public pressure, he has mysteriously vanished from administrative updates, raising concerns about backroom deals.

During the height of the chaotic public agitation, a local youth named Indrajit Mondal was lynched by an angry mob. While vigilantism is deeply condemnable, the state administration's response raised immediate red flags. Before any independent inquiry or special investigation team (SIT) could release an official brief, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari swiftly declared the deceased youth entirely innocent.

Interestingly, Indrajit Mondal features as the third accused in the FIR filed by the victim’s father at the Baruipur police station. Yet, bypassing the official investigation, the chief minister pre-emptively declared him innocent based on "police inputs." During his subsequent visit to Baruipur, the chief minister announced direct financial compensation for the youth's family and issued a stern warning against the agitators, stating that nearly 200 protesters had been identified for strict action.

THE ENCOUNTER JUSTICE

The case took its most repugnant turn on Tuesday night (July 7). During a routine "crime scene reconstruction" under the watch of hundreds of police personnel, the police claimed that the prime accused, Probhas Mondal, snatched a firearm while handcuffed and attempted to flee. He was fatally shot in the ensuing crossfire — marking a rare and controversial custodial encounter in West Bengal. While the ruling dispensation framed this as instant justice, human rights organizations and the victim’s family see a sinister pattern reminiscent of the controversial "UP Model." The victim's family, in video statements to major media outlets, openly claimed that this encounter was staged to bury the ultimate truth. Probhas Mondal was the crucial link; he knew who bankrolled the crime and which political heavyweights pulled the strings. Silencing him before a full trial appears less like delivering justice and more like securing a dead end. Furthermore, using this incident as a pretext, the police rounded up nearly 50 local men who had stood at the forefront of the justice marches.

INSTITUTIONAL ROT

Reacting sharply to the administrative collapse in Baruipur, CPI(M) State Secretary Md. Salim launched a scathing attack on the ruling dispensation, stating that a mere change in government has done nothing to reform the police force. “The police remain utterly inactive even after receiving specific complaints, and their initial refusal to act in the Baruipur minor’s rape and murder case is a textbook example of this institutional rot,” Salim remarked.

Drawing a direct parallel to the previous regime's political interference, Salim reminded the public, “We have seen Mamata Banerjee walk into police stations in the past to release criminals, which directly emboldened the culprits. Today, the new ruling party is repeating the exact same script.” Salim also strongly condemned the subsequent vigilantism, stating, "The way a suspect was subjected to mob lynching is deeply unjust. 'Mob justice' is entirely unlawful, and it is a dangerous, horrific trend that we have been witnessing across the country for nearly a decade now."

A day after the incident, a CPI(M) delegation met with the family of the victim. The delegation included CPI(M) Central Committee members Sujan Chakraborty and Shamik Lahiri and South 24 Parganas District Secretary Ratan Bagchi. During the visit, they spoke at length with the victim’s parents. Accusing the police of failing to take timely and appropriate action, the CPI(M) leadership demanded that the government take strict disciplinary action against the responsible police officials. Hundreds of activists and supporters from the SFI, DYFI, and the AIDWA marched through the streets, venting their fury against police inaction and demanding exemplary punishment for the culprits.

A SCAPEGOAT

Desperate to shift the blame onto the Left after a suspect named Ananda Sardar was arrested, the BJP's IT cell went into overdrive. Fabricated documents were circulated from fake profiles claiming Sardar was a CPI(M) polling agent at Booth 192 in Baruipur Paschim during the elections. However, the progressive portal The Awaz completely debunked the propaganda by publishing the official Form 17C from the Election Commission. The document proved that the actual CPI(M) agent was a man named Prabhas Sardar. In their haste to manufacture a narrative, the digital trolls had even forged the signature of the local Left candidate, exposing a deep anxiety over the growing organic resistance on the ground.

Interestingly, from day one, the BJP’s IT cell became desperate to implicate the CPI(M) in the incident. Because the local face leading the furious mass protests against police inaction was Lahek Ali — the Left Front candidate for the 2026 Assembly elections and a CPI(M) District Committee member — he became their primary target. Upon hearing the news of such a horrific incident, he had rushed to Suryapur on Sunday morning. By then, the mob lynching, the capturing of Probhas Mondal, and the shocking incident of Shantanu Mondal forcibly snatching the prime accused from the police camp had already taken place. Multiple video footages clearly show that far from inciting violence, Lahek Ali was actively urging the agitated protesters to calm down. At the same time, he asserted that the democratic movement demanding justice for the minor would continue.

The ruling dispensation's machinery did not stop at merely blaming him on social media for inciting the public; they went a step further, lodging formal police complaints to turn him into a political scapegoat. Even the Chief Minister dropped pointed hints attributing the mob lynching to "forces defeated in the elections." The irony, however, is glaring. In reality, it is the veteran Trinamool leader and former Speaker, Biman Banerjee, who has consistently won this seat since 2011, including in the 2026 elections. Yet, the BJP’s propaganda machine conveniently directed all accountability onto the CPI(M).

On the Sunday following the incident, the police arrested Lahek Ali. When he was produced before the Baruipur Court, the judge remanded him in eight-day police custody — a move that has drawn fierce condemnation and triggered widespread protests from the CPI(M) leadership. Condemning the arrest, veteran CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty remarked: “The manner in which the chief minister is declaring who is guilty and who is innocent even before a proper investigation has begun clearly reveals a sinister political agenda. Lahek Ali's arrest is entirely politically motivated. Widespread protests will erupt across the state against this blatant injustice.”

THEATRICAL JUSTICE

The arrest of an opposition leader, coupled with a controversial custodial death, highlights the deep crisis gripping the state. Without waiting for any official police statement, Suvendu Adhikari went ahead and claimed a "communal angle" behind Sunday’s mob lynching. When the administration regularises an "encounter culture" and uses state machinery to settle political scores rather than catch the perpetrators, it delivers a direct blow to the rule of law. Extrajudicial actions — whether via mob lynching, police bullets, or vindictive arrests — only weaken the constitutional framework and shield the real culprits. The real solution does not lie in theatrical encounters, fabricated IT-cell narratives, or political scapegoating. It requires a completely depoliticised police force, strict institutional accountability for administrative negligence, and concrete, systemic measures to protect women. Until the government stops treating a child’s tragic death as a tool for political warfare and starts ensuring actual accountability, the cycle of criminality across Bengal will remain unbroken.