Baruipur horror: A 12-year-old's rape and murder has spiralled into a political flashpoint in Bengal

THe assault and remove of a 12-year-old in westward Bengal's Baruipur has snowballed into a john major political flashpoint, triggering protests, wild clashes between the ruling BJP and TMC, and a war of words in relation to the law and order in the state.The alleged “encounter” of one of the accused in the case has also been a bone of contention, with the BJP terming in “divine justice” and Mamata Banerjee-led TMC calling it “jungle law”.The 12-year-old went missing on July 4, and her body was recovered a day later from a pond at Suryapur in Baruipur. Police arrested four persons in connection with the incident. Prabhas Mondal, the key accused who was killed in an alleged encounter, had lured the minor girl and taken her to a shack where the others were waiting. He was reportedly promised ₹10,000 for the job.Also Read | ‘Got what he deserved’: Mother of Baruipur rape-murder accused refuses to ‘see his face’ after son killed in ‘encounter’BJP-TMC clash amid protest marchWorkers and supporters of the BJP and TMC youth wing clashed on Wednesday amid the protest march led by Mamata Banerjee over the minor's rape and murder. This led the police personnel to baton charge to control the situation, PTI news agency reported.Following the culmination of the rally, TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee accused the police of acting like an “an arm of the BJP organisation”. Mamata claimed that supporters of the BJP had obstructed the rally and assaulted TMC workers at several places along the route. She accused the BJP of “undermining” the Calcutta high court's order.“The high court allowed our rally, but BJP goons stopped it. How can the police undermine the court's order allowing the rally? BJP goons beat up our party workers. Is this democracy?” PTI cited Mamata as saying. The high court had had on Tuesday allowed the Mamata-led youth wing rally, setting aside a police decision to disallow it. The BJP did not immediately respond to the allegations.TMC says accused's encounter ‘jungle law’, BJP calls it ‘divine justice’The TMC slammed the West Bengal government over the alleged encounter of Baruipur rape and murder accused, Prabhas Mondal. Party leader and Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra called it “jungle law”, criticising the police action. “Bengalis please welcome new Bengal- Uttar Pradesh 2.0 @BJP4Bengal is no government. This is jungle law,” Moitra wrote in a post on X.TMC MP Kirti Azad too joined in the criticism, claiming that the alleged encounter was “staged”to prevent the disclosure of internal secrets of the ruling BJP. “Do you know who Prabhas Mondal is? He is a BJP worker. He possesses a lot of inside information about them--details regarding their plans and preparations,” ANI news agency quoted Azad as saying. “To ensure he doesn't spill the beans on these internal secrets, it is being staged to look like an encounter took place,” he added. TMC MP Saugata Roy also condemned the encounter killing and questioned the police's decision to kill the accused instead of following the legal process.Meanwhile, the ruling BJP has portrayed it as evidence of its "zero tolerance" policy against crimes against women. “The demon Prabhas Mondal, who raped and killed a girl in Baruipur, was killed in police firing after trying to flee with firearms. Divine justice,” BJP spokesperson Debjit Sarkar said in a post on X. West Bengal BJP unit president Samik Bhattacharya said the state government had acted firmly and sent a message that “no criminal or rapist would be spared.”TMC says Mamata prevented from meeting victim's family, BJP dismisses claimThe Trinamool Congress (TMC) said earlier this week that heavy police deployment had been ordered and barricades were put outside the residences of former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and parliamentarian Abhishek Banerjee’s residences.The party leaders claimed this had been done to prevent them from visiting the family of the Baruipur victim. TMC leader Derek O’Brien posted what he referred to as “alarming visuals” from the lane outside the homes of Mamata and Abhishek. “Route march happening now. Confinement using force!” he wrote on X.“The heavy deployment has continued since last night. It is clearly aimed at preventing Mamata Banerjee from visiting Baruipur and meeting the bereaved family,” a senior TMC leader claimed, according to PTI. However, BJP dismissed the allegation and said that the deployment was part of routine security measures for a Z-plus category protectee.