Ground Zero
As smoke from houses set on fire continues to rise, villagers are confronted with uncomfortable questions. How will people who have lost family members come to terms with their loss? Will they return? What will they return to? The answers are up in the air as Bogtui village in West Bengal’s Birbhum district witnessed an unprecedented violence on March 21. Eight persons — six women, one child and one man — were burnt to death.
In 48 hours, the fires have been doused, but there is simmering anger and grief. When Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee left Bogtui on March 24, after making elaborate announcements on compensation and rehabilitation to the violence-affected villagers, Sukhtara Khatoon could not hold back anymore. She began recounting the events of the night, as tears flowed. “I hid under the bed. They burnt my entire family to death before my own eyes. When I finally managed to break the lock to pull them out, they were in a terrible condition,” she said. A few other women joined her on the village road, weeping inconsolably, surrounded by policemen. “We don’t want any money, we want the perpetrators to be brought to justice,” they said. It is not unusual for men to flee villages in West Bengal after clashes or bouts of violence. But setting fire to homes where women and children were hiding, after locking them from outside, is a first for a State accustomed to violence over area dominance.
