10-Year-Old Girl Killed In Bomb Blast During Bengal Bypoll Result, One Arrested
A 10-year-old girl was killed in a crude bomb explosion in West Bengal’s Nadia district on Monday afternoon, a tragic culmination of post-poll violence that erupted during the counting of votes for the Kaliganj assembly by-election. The police have arrested one person in connection with the fatal blast.
The incident took place in Molandi village, under the Bara Chandghar Panchayat. According to local reports and political allegations, the violence broke out between supporters of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) soon after the bypoll results were announced, declaring the TMC candidate as the winner.
During the clash, several crude bombs were allegedly hurled. The victim, a student of Class 4, was caught in the violence and sustained grievous injuries from one of the explosions. She reportedly died on the spot. Police have launched a full investigation into the incident and the girl’s body has been sent for post-mortem.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee condemned the incident in a post on the social media platform X. “I am shocked and deeply saddened at the death of a young girl in an explosion at Barochandgar in Krishnanagar police district. My prayers and thoughts are with the family in their hour of grief. Police shall take strong and decisive legal action against the culprits at the earliest,” she wrote.
The opposition BJP was quick to attack the ruling TMC over the child’s death. Amit Malviya, the BJP’s co-incharge for West Bengal, accused the TMC of having “blood on its hands.” In a post on X, he wrote, “From TMC’s victory rally in Muslim-majority Kaliganj bypoll, bombs were hurled, and in the chaos, a little girl, a Class 4 student, was killed. Let that sink in.”
Malviya further questioned the state of law and order, adding, “TMC is not a political party. It is a gang of vultures. They cannot win—even a bypoll—without shedding blood. Is this what West Bengal has been reduced to? Is this the price of victory under Mamata Banerjee’s rule?”
The by-election in Kaliganj, which was necessitated by the death of the sitting TMC MLA, has been won by the party’s candidate, Alifa Ahmed. The incident has once again brought the issue of political violence in West Bengal to the forefront, casting a dark shadow over the electoral process.
