Three held for Baruipur rape and murder; govt. will ensure capital punishment is awarded, says CM

Three persons were arrested in connection with the alleged rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl whose body was recovered from a pond at Baruipur in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas on Sunday (July 5, 2026). 

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday (July 6, 2026) assured the family members of the victim that his government would ensure capital punishment was accorded to all the accused persons responsible for the heinous crime. 

“The family of the victim will get the justice in the way they want it. We will ensure capital punishment for the accused. I am happy that the family have shown faith in me,” Mr. Adhikari said.

Violence had erupted on Sunday (July 5, 2026), when the body of the minor was recovered from a pond at Surjapur in Baruipur. One person was lynched by a mob. Some police personnel were injured in the violence, and a police vehicle was vandalised.

“In the remaining three cases, there has been a communal angle when there was mob lynching, which reminds us of earlier times, during the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) protests [when] two CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) personnel were injured and a police vehicle was attacked. While we will ensure justice in the first case, in the three remaining cases, the people involved will have to suffer,” the Chief Minister said.

There were no reports of violence on Monday (July 6), and the police have imposed prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) across areas under three police stations, including Baruipur, Narayanpur, and Sonarpur, to prevent gatherings. On Sunday (July 5), protesters blocked a nearby train line on the Sealdah-Namkhana route for an hour. They also staged a sit-in protest with the girl’s body on the Baruipur-Jaynagar road, disrupting traffic for three-four hours, officials said. 

A delegation of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders, including the former Speaker of the West Bengal Assembly Biman Bose, and MPs Dola Sen and Protima Mondal, visited Baruipur and met the family members of the victim. Former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also held a protest outside her residence in Kolkata over the Baruipur incident.

One of the accused, Pravas Mondal was arrested on Sunday night, and two other accused — Dibakar Sardar and Ananda Sardar — were arrested on Monday (July 6), according to police.

“Pravas Mondal and Dibakar Sarda were also produced before a court, which granted 20 days of police custody. Later, we also arrested the third accused, Ananda Sardar, who will be produced before the court on Tuesday (July 7, 2026). Two more people have also been detained and the police are questioning them,” a senior police officer from South 24 Parganas district said. 

Baruipur was on the boil on Sunday (July 5) after the mutilated body of the minor, who went missing on Saturday (July 4, 2026), was recovered from a sack in a pond. The incident sparked a violent protest in the area as an angry mob also beat a 40-year-old man to death, suspecting that he was an associate of the accused.

The police have drawn charges of gangrape and murder against the accused. “The first FIR (First Information Report), which was initially lodged as a missing person report by the victim’s father on Saturday, has now been updated. The Sections 63 (rape); 70 (2) (gangrape); 103 (1) (murder); and 238 (deliberately tampering with evidence) of the BNS (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita) and the necessary Sections of POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012) have been added to it after the primary investigation,” the officer said.

The other three FIRs relate to the lynching of a man over suspicion, the uprooting of a rail track, and attacking security personnel and damaging their vehicles.

Mr. Adhikari will visit Baruipur on Tuesday (July 7) and meet the family members of the victim.