Cooch Behar firing ‘genocide’, CISF ineligible to handle crowd: Mamata
Calling the recent killing of four people due to firing by CISF personnel in Cooch Behar a “genocide”, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday (April 11) said the Election Commission has restricted the entry of politicians in the district for 72 hours as it seeks to “suppress facts”.
Banerjee while addressing a rally in Siliguri said the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) isn’t qualified to control mobs and that the personnel fired at the torso even though they could have fired below the knee.
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“There was genocide at Sitalkuchi. I would like to visit Sitalkuchi by April 14. The EC is trying to suppress facts by restricting entry in Cooch Behar. We have an incompetent home minister and an incompetent central government,” Banerjee said.
“This is genocide. They sprayed bullets to kill. They could have fired below the knee. The CISF has no idea about controlling mobs. They are trained for industrial areas,” she said.
On April 10, on the fourth day of polls in Bengal, CISF personnel who were on duty at booth number 126 at Jor Paath Ki in Sitalkuchi constituency opened fire on people, in which four were killed and one was injured. The personnel alleged that they were attacked by locals who “attempted to snatch their rifles”.
“The CISF doesn’t know how to handle situations. Since the first phase of elections, I had been saying that a section of the central forces are committing atrocities on people. I had flagged the issue in Nandigram, but none paid attention to my words,” she said.
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