West Bengal / CISF personnel fired to save their lives, govt property: EC on Bengal shooting

Kolkata: The Election Commission of India on Saturday released a press statement over the Cooch Behar firing incident. The poll panel said the CISF jawan had no alternative but to fire as they were surrounded by a large number of people. According to police, four persons were killed as CISF personnel allegedly opened fire after coming under attack from locals, who “attempted to snatch their rifles”.

The poll panel said that the firing incident at a polling booth in Cooch Behar’s Sitalkuchi assembly seat took place after locals attacked security personnel due to a “misunderstanding”.

According to a India Today report quoting a press statement released by the Election Commission, the poll panel said that the voting process was going on “smoothly” at booth number 126 under Sitalkuchi assembly seat when a young boy named Manik Md was sick and was in the vicinity of the polling booth, and two-three local women were taking care of him.

Seeing this, the CISF jawans present inquired about the boy’s health. They also asked the locals if they would like to send him to the hospital in a vehicle of the local police that was nearby.

“However, some other local people thought that the boy was beaten by the CISF personnel, and as a result of such a misunderstanding a few people present there raised hue and cry and assembled nearly 300-350 villagers, including some women with household equipment that could hurt someone brutally,” the statement said.

It added that due to this “misunderstanding”, the agitated mob attacked the CISF personnel who were detailed at the polling booth with “deadly equipment”.

“But the QRT vehicle was also attacked by the unruly mob and it was damaged severely. On being attacked, CISF personnel fired in open air to disperse the crowd and take control of the situation without causing any injuries to anyone. However, it did not deter the mob. Faced with no other alternative, to save their lives and government property like EVM and other polling materials, the CISF personnel opened fire. As a result, four persons who got bullet injury succumbed to their injuries at the local hospital,” the EC statement added.