People's Democracy

Some Recent Incidents of Violence

Every other day in Bengal, some or other CPI(M) leaders / activists / sympathisers / supporters are being shot or hacked to death or kidnapped by the murderous goons of Trinamul-'Maoists' combine. Below we give a list of a few of these recent attacks.

August 30: 'Maoists' beat up a woman panchayat chief in Purulia, Latika Hemambra because she had not obeyed their diktat a year ago to quit the CPI(M). Around 8 p m, about 30 goons, armed with rifles, single-barrel guns and revolvers, marched to Nodudi village in the Ayodhya hills of Purulia. When they reached the village � Latika lives there � they warned the people not to step out of their houses.

On reaching Latika�s hut they kicked open the door. Latika, 32, and her husband Gopal, a CPI(M) worker, were sleeping in the courtyard. �We asked you to quit the CPI(M) a year ago. But you did not,� the Maoists yelled at her. Then they started hitting the couple using their rifle butts. ��If you don�t quit the party now, you will be murdered�, they proclaimed and went away firing their guns in the air.

From there they marched 10 km to Jitinglahar village to CPI(M) branch secretary Debiprasad Hansda's home. Debiprasad was sleeping with his father Hiralal, 68. As soon as his mother opened the door, about 10 rebels rushed in, pushing her aside. Debiprasad�s parents fell at the feet of the Maoists, begging for their son�s life.

They kicked the 45-year-old CPI(M) leader awake, then shot him twice in the chest. He died on the spot. �They told him this was the price of his association with the corrupt CPI(M). Then they shot him twice,� wept Hiralal, according to newspaper reports.

August 29: Two CPI(M) supporters were shot dead by 'Maoists' in West Midnapore and Purulia, both rebel strongholds. Lakshmi Kanta Kumar, a 50-year- old CPI(M) local committee secretary was waylaid by a group of Maoists when he was returning home in Arsa, Purulia, about 360 km from Calcutta. He was murdered near a CRPF camp in Mudali, which is near Arsa.

According to reports, five assailants on motorbikes fired at Lakshmi from a close range, killing him on the spot. The assailants fled under the cover of darkness,

In another incident, an armed gang of Maoists killed Bidyut Baran Das in Binpur, West Midnapore. The assailants stopped Bidyut, 48, a poultry seller and supporter of CPI(M), when he was returning home on his bicycle and pumped bullets into him,

August 28: Mangal Soren, DYFI activist in Binpur, who was mobilising public opinion against a Maoist-backed bandh was gunned down while he was tilling his land.  Five 'Maoists' came on motorcycles and shot him from close range. The blood-thirsty hoodlums then hacked him with axes. An axe flew out of the hand of one of the attackers and hit another farmer at a distance. After the gang left, villagers put the two on a trekker and rushed them to hospital, but Mangal Soren died on the way.  Soren was actively campaigning against the strike in West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia called by the  People's Committee demanding withdrawal of security forces from Lalgarh.

August 19: The houses of CPI(M) local committee member Bankim Singha and chief of the Baita gram panchayat Suman Singha were attacked by �Maoists�. This despite both the leaders announcing that they had quit the party a month ago following Maoist threats. Fortunately, both of them were not present at the time of these attacks.

After ransacking and breaking the furniture with axes and rods, the goons looted jewellery and money. On the same day the CPI(M) local committee office in Malbandhi was also attacked and burnt.

August 15: �Maoists� shot dead a CPI(M) leader, Ramkrishna Duley, in a Bankura village about 25 km from Lalgarh.

The 47 year old leader was returning home from his field in the afternoon when two men cycled up to him on a dirt road and opened fire. Duley was killed 500 metres from his home in Sarenga. He is the first CPI(M) man to be killed in Bankura since the security forces moved into Lalgarh.