Kaliganj blast: Family members of minor girl refuse compensation, seek proper probe

Kolkata, June 26 The family members of the 13-year-old girl, who was killed in a bomb blast at Kaliganj in West Bengal's Nadia district, have refused the compensation extended by Trinamool Congress legislator.

The parents of the minor girl said they would go to extremes, including approaching the Calcutta High Court for an investigation by a central agency.

"We have our farmland. We do not need any money. All we want is that my daughter gets justice and her killers are punished appropriately," the victim's mother said.

She also made it clear that the refusal of any compensation was not just in relation to anything offered by the state government but also from any leader of Trinamool Congress, either in the individual capacity of that leader or on behalf of the party.

On Wednesday evening, a former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and Trinamool Congress legislator from Debra Assembly constituency in West Midnapore district, Dr Humayun Kabir, reached the residence of the victim and offered her mother an amount on behalf of a voluntary organisation that he claimed to be associated with.

However, the victim's mother refused to accept the money and told the ruling party legislator that her only aim now was to get justice for her daughter and ensure punishment for the culprits and not any compensation.

So far, five persons have been arrested in connection with the killing of the minor girl, Tamanna Khatun.

The victim's family members and the local people have alleged that the minor girl was killed after being hit by splinters of a bomb that was hurled during a victory procession of the ruling Trinamool Congress to celebrate the victory of its party candidate Alifa Ahmed in Kaliganj bypolls, the results of which were declared on Monday.

The victim's mother accused the investigating officials of the district police of ignoring the political angle behind the event of hurling bombs from the victory procession, exclusively targeting her residence, in which her daughter was killed.

She said that her residence was specially targeted since her entire family is ideologically inclined to and was actively associated with the CPI-M for a long time.

Secondly, she questioned how just five persons have been arrested so far, despite around 40 to 50 bombs being hurled targeting her residence within a short period, which was not possible by just four miscreants.

On Tuesday, the National Commission for Women (NCW) took suo motu cognisance of the case and sought answers to some queries in the matter from the Krishnanagar District Superintendent of Police, Amarnath K, under whose jurisdiction Kaliganj comes.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor