Violence escalates in West Bengal’s Malda: Police attacked and vehicles set on fire while clearing highway as unrest spread over SIR protests

Image via Aaj Tak

On Thursday, 2nd April, Fresh violence broke out in Malda district as protests over voter list revision under SIR turned tense in several areas. In one of the incidents, a police vehicle was attacked by a crowd that threw stones and damaged it badly. The driver of the vehicle was seriously injured in the attack.

The unrest is linked to the ongoing Special Intensive Voter Revision (SIR), with many people claiming that names of valid voters are being removed from the electoral rolls. This has led to growing anger among locals.

Trouble was reported from multiple locations. In the Narayanpur area of Old Malda, hundreds of people gathered on the streets early in the morning and blocked traffic, disrupting normal life. At the same time, protests were also seen in the Yadupur area of Englishbazar, where people came out holding the national flag and raised concerns about their voter names being deleted.

Police and central forces reached the spots to bring the situation under control, but tensions increased further when security personnel arrived near the Yadupur bypass. The crowd became more aggressive, leading to clashes and damage to public property.

The situation in the district had already been tense a day earlier. On Wednesday, 1st April protesters blocked National Highway 12 in Sujapur for several hours. In another serious incident, seven judicial officers were stopped and kept inside a BDO office in the Kaliachak area for nearly eight hours.

With repeated incidents of protests and violence, the administration has been put on high alert. Security forces are deployed across sensitive areas, but the atmosphere in Malda remains tense.

Written by OpIndia Staff
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