Will report to President Bengal govt's failure in protecting SCs: NCSC

Kolkata, May 4 Murder of BJP booth president in West Bengal's East Midnapore district reflects the failure of state government in ensuring security of Scheduled Castes which constitute 22 per cent of the state's electorate, National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) vice-chairman Arun Halder said here on Thursday.

A detailed report on the lapses of the state administration on this count will also be sent to President Draupadi Murmu, he added.

This morning, Halder arrived at Moyna where the BJP leader was killed, and interacted with the deceased's family and the villagers.

Upon his arrival, the absence of the district magistrate and district police superintendent irked him. "As per protocol, the district magistrate and the district police superintendent have to be present when the NCSC team visits a spot. Except for West Bengal, every other state in the country follows this protocol," a visibly upset Halder said.

The inspector-in-charge of Moyna Police station had to face the wrath of the NCSC vice-chairman, who directly accused the police of not following the normal procedures after they recovered the body of slain BJP booth president, Bijoy Krishna Bhunia.

"After the recovery of the body, the police did not inform the victim's family immediately. You did not make any arrangement for cordoning off the place where the body was recovered. There had been severe procedural lapses on your part. Whom will I complain to about your procedural lapses since the district police superintendent is absent," Halder was heard telling the inspector-in-charge of Moyna Police station.

The latter's reply that the district police superintendent was busy in tackling law and order problems elsewhere in the district could not satisfy the NCSC vice-chairman.

Meanwhile, as per the state police, the first arrest in the matter has been made late on Wednesday night. The arrested person has been identified as Milan Bhowmik, a local village panchayat member of Trinamool Congress.

Police sources informed that while the murder of Bhunia took place, Bhowmik was present at the spot.

On Wednesday, a single-judge bench of Calcutta High Court ordered a second autopsy on the body of the slain BJP leader at the Army-run Command Hospital in Kolkata.