Bengal police kill a rape-murder accused in Raiganj as Adhikari defends a 'free hand' and rivals object

West Bengal police shot dead a man accused of raping and murdering a young girl in Raiganj early on Monday, November 9. It was at least the fourth death in a police "encounter" since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took power in the state in May. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, who also holds the police portfolio, defended the killing the same day. He said officers fire only when attacked and that his government has given them "a free hand" against rape and murder, drug trafficking and infiltration from Bangladesh. Opposition parties from the Trinamool Congress to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said the pattern undermines the rule of law.

In India, "encounter" is the common word for a shootout in which police say they fired in self-defense while trying to arrest or hold a suspect. The police account of the Raiganj killing has not been tested in court or by an independent inquiry. The man who died, Dilip Roy, had not been tried, so the rape and murder charges against him remain allegations.

What police say happened in Raiganj#

According to police officials quoted by The Hindu, the girl went missing on Tuesday, November 3. Her mutilated body was found in the Kulik Wildlife Sanctuary on Thursday, November 5. Her parents then filed a case of rape and murder at Raiganj police station, and police began searching for the accused, including Roy.

Police say Roy had been on the run since the body was found. At about 3:30 a.m. on Monday, officers went to arrest him in the Gauri village area of Uttar Dinajpur district, near the border with Bihar, where he was trying to cross. Police say he opened fire when they reached the spot, and that he was hit when they fired back. He was taken to Raiganj Medical College and Hospital and declared dead, and his body was sent for an autopsy, according to The Hindu and The Tribune.

Reports differ on some details. The Hindu gives the girl's age as 13, and a Press Trust of India report it carried describes her as Roy's niece. The Tribune also calls her his niece but gives her age as 12. 567politics has not independently confirmed her age or the family relationship, and it is not naming her.

How the chief minister defended it#

Adhikari spoke to reporters in Digha, in Purba Medinipur district, hours after the shooting. "Do police shoot every accused? When someone attacks police, they retaliate in self-defense," he said, according to the PTI report published by The Hindu. He added: "Is the police supposed to keep its gun in its pocket?"

He then described the policy he says lies behind it. "The government has given the police a free hand in certain cases, including rape and murder, drug trafficking and illegal infiltration from Bangladesh," he said. Officers "need not wait for permission from their superiors to act in such cases," he added, and "there is absolutely zero tolerance towards these offenses."

Adhikari had signaled this approach before. On November 3, the day the Raiganj girl went missing, he warned criminals they would not be spared if they harmed women. "You all are seeing what is happening when someone lays hands on our mothers and sisters," he said, as The Hindu reported.

Other BJP figures backed him. Panchayat Minister Dilip Ghosh said: "If everyone follows the law and order, nothing will happen. But police have a duty to act if accused individuals attempt to evade the law or escape." Union Minister of State Sukanta Majumdar said it was natural for police to respond in equal measure when fired upon, the Times of India reported. He contrasted this with the previous government: "The previous administration used to question the victim's character. We act decisively."

BJP MLA Ratna Debnath, the mother of the 2024 RG Kar rape-murder victim, went further. "Our CM Suvendu Adhikari had promised that we will catch them in the morning and eliminate them by afternoon. I fully support the statement," she said, according to the Times of India. State minister Shankar Ghosh said the government had "taken a very strong step to combat crimes against women." The BJP's party profile sets out its broader law-and-order platform.

Four deaths since May, by the count of most reports#

The Hindu's Monday report and the PTI report both call Raiganj the fourth police encounter death since the BJP government took office. They list three earlier cases. The timeline below follows those reports. Dates and spellings vary between outlets, as noted after it.

1. May 2026BJP government takes office in West Bengal
2. July 8Prabhas Mondal, accused in a girl's rape and murder, killed in Baruipur during a crime-scene reconstruction
3. October 27 or 28Prahlad Das, accused in a teenager's rape and murder, killed in Gaighata
4. October 27Samaul Sheikh, accused of murdering BJP worker Sujit Mondal, killed in Murshidabad district
5. November 9Dilip Roy, accused in a girl's rape and murder, killed near Gauri village in Raiganj

Source: The Hindu, PTI via The Hindu

The details are not fully consistent. The Hindu's Monday report dates the Gaighata and Murshidabad killings to October 28 in one passage and to October 27 in another, while PTI and an earlier Hindu explainer date them to October 27. The second man is named Samaul Sheikh, Samaul Haque or Samiul Sheikh in different reports. The Baruipur victim is described as 12 by The Hindu and 11 by PTI.

The count itself also varies. The Hindu explainer, published October 29, said five people had been killed in police encounters since May. It said three were accused of murder and two were charged with sexually assaulting minors, which would make Raiganj the sixth. 567politics could not reconcile the two counts from public reports, and no official tally from the state police or the National Human Rights Commission was found.

In the October cases, police said both men were killed during crime-scene reconstructions. They said each snatched a service revolver and fired at officers before dying in return fire, according to the explainer. In Raiganj, by contrast, police describe a raid to arrest a fugitive.

What critics in the opposition say#

The Trinamool Congress, which governed West Bengal for 15 years under Mamata Banerjee, led the criticism. TMC MLA Kunal Ghosh said those accused of rape and murder deserve the harshest punishment, but that legal procedure must be followed, The Tribune reported. TMC MP and senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee said "encounter culture" associated with Uttar Pradesh was being imported into Bengal. "Those who are guilty should be punished through the legal system, but carrying out encounters is not right," he said, warning that everyone involved would eventually be held accountable.

TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee questioned what he called the government's "encounter policy" in a post on X. He claimed that sexual violence had continued despite it, and that more than 2,500 rapes, 600 murders and 34,000 grave offenses had been recorded in the state in recent months, the Times of India reported. Those are his figures. 567politics did not find official crime data for the period that would confirm or refute them. The Trinamool Congress profile covers the party's record in office and in opposition.

The left and the Indian National Congress joined in. Former Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said: "If police start opening fire, it won't take long for the state's law and order to collapse. It is unacceptable to openly authorize encounters based on suspicion." He also questioned the credibility of police accounts, saying the recurring narratives only fueled suspicion. Sujan Chakraborty, an MLA from the Communist Party of India (Marxist), compared the approach with that of Yogi Adityanath's government in Uttar Pradesh. "Incidents such as these don't help establish the rule of law but do the exact opposite," he said. SUCI (Communist) state secretary Chandidas Bhattacharya said such encounters undermine the judicial system.

The split is not a simple left-right one on crime. Every critic quoted said those guilty of rape and murder should face strict punishment. The dispute is over who decides guilt and whether police should be told they need not seek approval before using force. The 567politics India party spectrum shows where these parties sit on wider economic and social questions.

What the Supreme Court requires after an encounter death#

India's Supreme Court set binding rules for these cases in 2014. In PUCL v. State of Maharashtra, decided on September 23, 2014, it issued 16 requirements for investigating deaths in police encounters. It ordered that they be treated as law declared under Article 141 of the Constitution, which makes them binding on all courts.

The main requirements are these:

• Police must record any tip-off about a suspect's movements in writing before acting on it.
• When a death occurs, a first information report must be registered and sent to court without delay.
• An independent investigation must be carried out by the state CID or by a team from another police station, supervised by an officer at least one level above the head of the police party involved.
• A magisterial inquiry must "invariably" be held into every death in police firing.
• The National or State Human Rights Commission must be informed without delay, and directors general of police must send the national commission a statement of such deaths every six months.
• Officers involved must surrender their weapons for forensic and ballistic analysis.
• There must be no out-of-turn promotion or instant gallantry reward for the officers soon after the event.
• If the family believes the procedure was not followed, it may complain to the local sessions judge.

The judgment refers to sections of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which India replaced in July 2024 with the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita. None of the reports reviewed for this story said whether a CID inquiry or a magisterial inquiry had been ordered into the Raiganj shooting, or whether the state human rights commission had been notified. Those are the first steps the court's rules require.

Why this matters for Bengal's politics#

The encounters have become a test of the BJP's first months in power in a state it had never governed. Its leaders present them as proof that the new government protects women. Majumdar and Shankar Ghosh both contrasted that with the previous government's record. Opponents say the same events show a government bypassing the courts.

Both sides are making claims that public records do not yet settle. Neither the government's account of self-defense nor the opposition's suspicion has been tested by the independent investigations the Supreme Court requires. The questions to watch are whether those inquiries happen, whether their findings are made public and whether any court is asked to review the deaths.

Differing perspectives

Should West Bengal police have a free hand to use force against suspects in rape, drug and infiltration cases?

Each position is summarized as its supporters make it, with equal weight and in alphabetical order. A summary is not an endorsement; the evidence for each is weighed in the story above.

• Investigate every death independently

  Who holds it: Supreme Court of India, in its 2014 PUCL v. State of Maharashtra judgment

  Every death in a police encounter must be followed by an FIR, an independent investigation by the CID or another station's team, and a magisterial inquiry. Human rights commissions must be informed, officers must surrender their weapons for testing, and no quick rewards may be given. These steps are binding law and apply whatever the accused is charged with.

  In their words: Supreme Court of India ↗

• Keep the free-hand policy

  Who holds it: Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and BJP ministers and MLAs in West Bengal

  Police do not shoot every accused person. They fire back when attacked, and officers should not have to keep their guns in their pockets. Giving them a free hand to act without waiting for superiors' approval shows zero tolerance for rape and murder, drug trafficking and infiltration, and tells criminals that harming women will not be tolerated.

  In their words: The Hindu (PTI) ↗

• Punish through the courts, not encounters

  Who holds it: Trinamool Congress leaders including MP Kalyan Banerjee and MLA Kunal Ghosh

  People accused of rape and murder deserve the harshest punishment, but only after due process. Bengal has traditionally believed in the rule of law, and importing the encounter culture associated with Uttar Pradesh is not in line with legal principles. Those who are guilty should be punished through the legal system, and everyone involved in such killings will eventually be held accountable.

  In their words: The Tribune ↗

• Withdraw open authorization of force

  Who holds it: Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, CPI(M) MLA Sujan Chakraborty and SUCI (Communist)

  Strict action against sexual violence must stay within the law. Openly authorizing police to fire on suspicion risks a collapse of law and order, and repeated similar accounts of encounters fuel suspicion rather than trust. Such killings do not establish the rule of law but weaken it and undermine the courts that should decide guilt.

  In their words: The Times of India ↗

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