Waqf Act row: No fresh escalation but violence-hit Murshidabad remains tense

Kolkata: Though hundreds of people had to leave their homesteads in the wake of communal violence triggered by the protest against the new Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, in Murshidabad in West Bengal over the past few days, no fresh escalation was reported on Sunday, with police and paramilitary forces patrolling the tense areas.

Over 150 people had been arrested for resorting to violence at Jangipur, Suti, Samsherganj, Dhulian and other places in Murshidabad during protests against the new law on Friday and Saturday. The state’s Director General of Police, Rajeev Kumar, visited several trouble spots in the district and told journalists that the situation had been entirely under control and no new incident of violence had been reported from anywhere in the state. He urged people not to pay heed to the rumours.

“We are here to help police maintain law and order. Our personnel will remain deployed as long as the state police want them to stay here,” Karni Singh Shekhawat, the Inspector General of the Border Security Force (BSF), said. The paramilitary force was deployed in the district following an order of the Calcutta High Court on Saturday.

The prohibitory orders imposed under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) remained in force in the violence-hit areas. The internet services also remained suspended in several sensitive areas in the district.

A large number of people from Dhulian crossed the river Bhagirathi on boats and took refuge in a school at Baishnab Nagar in the Malda district to escape violent attacks.

They alleged that the miscreants held them responsible for the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, and not only set their houses afire but also poisoned tanks of drinking water, forcing them to flee. “They beat men and harassed women and asked us to leave immediately. We escaped to save ourselves as bombs were being hurled near our houses,” said an elderly woman, who fled from Mandir Para in Dhulian and took shelter with her son and daughter-in-law in the refugee camp after crossing the river.

Pankaj Tamang, the Sub-Divisional Officer of Malda (Sadar), said that the local administration had arranged food and drinking water for the people who took shelter in the school. They were also provided with other essentials. Anand Roy, the Superintendent of Police in Jangipur, said that all necessary security arrangements would be made to facilitate the return of the displaced people. “No one needs to leave. We are ready to provide security to all.”

The violence triggered by the protest against the new Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, claimed three lives on Friday and Saturday. The bodies of 74-year-old Hargobind Das and his 40-year-old son Chandan Das were recovered from the family’s home at Jafrabad in Samsherganj on Saturday. They were allegedly hacked to death by miscreants during violent protests against the new law late on Friday.

Izaz Momin, who was among the two people wounded in police firing during violent protests at Sajur More in Suti, succumbed to his injuries on Saturday. Another person was injured in the police firing in Dhulian on Saturday.

Nearly 15 policemen were injured as the protesters hurled stones at the security personnel on Friday and Saturday, apart from blocking roads, ransacking government offices, vandalising railway stations, disrupting train services and setting afire vehicles, including the ones used by the cops.