Youths beaten up mercilessly in Chandannagar while attackers roam freely

On 26th April at 8.30 pm, Bikram Hela, son of late Ramesh Hela, was going from Urdibazar to Jhaubagan Gali, P.S. Chandannagar in Hooghly district on a bike.  He was accompanied by two friends, Rama Hela, son of Raju Hela and Issu Harijan, son of Chandra Harijan. On their way, they were obstructed by a few bullies belonging to the Muslim community of Urdibazar. The gang was led by Sheikh Anwar, who is also the president of the minority cell of Trinamool Congress party. Even if Bikram and his friends pleaded with Anwar and his fellows to let them go, they failed to impress them. Suddenly a local goon named Sheikh Mannan struck Issu Harijan with a glass bottle after which he fell down and started bleeding profusely. Both Bikram and Rama were stunned at the intensity of the assault and tried to defend him from the goons. Following this, Sheikh Munna and Sheikh Helpo started assaulting all of them. At the same time, a group of Muslim youths led by Sheikh Parvez came out of Star Club located close to the place of the attack. The group carried assault items like iron rods, swords and pounced upon the three of them.

All three of the victims sustained heavy injuries and their belongings including wrist watches, gold bracelets and chains were looted. But this was not all; the hooligans attacked the residences of Bikram, Rama and Issu later on, molested women there and Sheikh Anwar also desecrated the deities. The group left the place while warning that any report to the police would have dire consequences. But Bikram went to Chandannagar police station defying all threats to file a complain against the criminals. After the attack, the victims were sent to Chandannagar sub-divisional hospital and with the medical reports, Bikram Hela lodged an FIR against Sheikh Mannan, Sheikh Munna, Sheikh Helpo, Sheikh Parvez and others  (FIR No. 92/13 dated 26/04/2013 under sections 41/325/326/379/354B/295A/506/34 of the Indian Penal Code). According to locals, the assault was to prevent Hindus from participating in the following Ram Navami while it is rumored that the other side believes the entire incident to be a fallout of a love affair. Although the police had arrested all the assaulters, they were bailed out promptly with good help from local political leaders.