Date Oct 26 — Case 1 - North 24 Parganas, Duttapukur PS, accused Sheikh Sahil, 27, arrested for kidnapping, rifle snatching. Police take him for reconstruction at Bamangachi field at 4:30 am. Note: "During reconstruction, accused tried to flee, snatched service rifle of constable Rajesh Singh, fired one round, police in self-defence fired two rounds, injured, declared dead at Barasat Hospital."
Case 2 - South 24 Parganas, Canning PS, accused Asif Molla, 29, arrested for murder - same note word-to-word, same time 5:15 am, same constable surname Singh, same hospital type.
Local reporters flagged identical copy-paste. No body cam footage, no videography despite SC mandate in PUCL vs State 2014 - every encounter must be video-recorded, FIR under 302 against police, magisterial enquiry by Judicial Magistrate, no gallantry award till clean chit.
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Bengal historically had no encounter culture. Left Front 1977-2011 used political violence via cadres, not police encounters. Trinamool 2011-22 also zero encounter deaths per NCRB - UP had 178, Assam 52, Bengal 0. Since 2023, Bengal 11 encounter deaths - after CM Mamata's statement “police must be tough on anti-socials before panchayat polls.”
Is this mimicry of Yogi model? UP's encounter policy from 2017 - 10,300 encounters, 183 deaths, Supreme Court called for probe but UP got electoral dividend - law and order image. Assam's 2021-23 80 deaths under Himanta. Now Bengal wants same image as Sandeshkhali, RG Kar, Murshidabad riot dented image
Kolkata stripping incident same week - police paraded three extortion accused in Parnasree in undergarments, video viral, Calcutta HC bench Justice Tirthankar Ghosh slammed - "medieval, violates Article 21, D.K. Basu guidelines." Police said to create fear among extortionists.
For Indian policing, problem is SOP. Crime reconstruction at dawn with one constable rifle is recipe for escape claim. NHRC guidelines - reconstruction in daylight, with two officers, with handcuffs, with videographer.
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Opposition - BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari demands CBI probe, says custodial torture covered as encounter. TMC says BJP should see UP.
Data: 2025 NHRC encounter deaths pending enquiry 250, conviction zero.
Solution: Bengal must release body-cam, as Kerala did 2024 - all reconstruction video uploaded within 24 hrs.
Tags: #BengalEncounter #PoliceEncounter #WestBengal #HumanRights #PUCL #UPModel #Article21 #DKBasu #CustodialDeath #RuleOfLaw