Daijiworld Media Network - Kolkata

Kolkata, Dec 23: The Jangipur Sub-Divisional Court in Murshidabad, West Bengal, on Tuesday handed down life imprisonment to 13 individuals convicted of murdering Hargobindo Das and his son Chandan Das during April protests against the Waqf (Amendment) Act.

Judge Amitabha Mukhopadhyay, who convicted the accused on Monday, pronounced the sentences amid tight security at the court premises. The deceased father and son were residents of Jafrabad village under Samserganj Police Station in Jangipur.

The 13 convicts sentenced to life imprisonment are Dildar Nadab, Asmaul Nadab, Inzamul Haque, Ziaul Haque, Fekharul Sheikh, Aazfarul Sheikh, Munirul Sheikh, Iqbal Sheikh, Nurul Sheikh, Saba Karim, Hazrat Sheikh, Akbar Ali, and Yusuf Sheikh.

While delivering the verdict, the judge noted that the killings were motivated by personal vendetta rather than political reasons. The BJP claimed that the observation exposed attempts to mislead the public and deflect accountability under the pretext of opposing the Waqf (Amendment) Act.

The state police’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) had arrested the accused, following a detailed probe that culminated in a 900-page charge sheet.

According to the SIT, the murders occurred when the father and son tried to prevent riots in their village, and the attack was “pre-planned.”

Family members of the deceased rejected compensation offered by the Trinamool Congress-led government but accepted aid from the Opposition Leader in the Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari.

Earlier this year, the Calcutta High Court had directed the formation of the SIT to investigate the Murshidabad riots and ordered the deployment of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) in the area. A division bench of Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Raja Basu Chowdhury observed that the West Bengal government’s measures to control communal unrest were insufficient and that earlier CAPF deployment could have prevented the situation from becoming “grave” and “volatile.”