Congress protests in Kolkata over death of 13-year-old girl in explosion

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], June 24 (ANI): A group of Congress workers held a protest in Kolkata on Monday against the West Bengal government, following the death of a 13-year-old girl in a bomb explosion during a Trinamool Congress (TMC) victory procession in Kaliganj.
The procession was taken out to celebrate TMC's win in the Kaliganj Assembly bye-election.
West Bengal Congress President Subhankar Sarkar condemned the incident, calling it a "blot on the history of West Bengal elections."
"What we saw today was a blot on the history of West Bengal assembly elections. By-elections were held throughout the country, but we saw no bloodshed anywhere else," Sarkar said during the protest.
The explosion happened while TMC's workers were celebrating Alifa Ahmed's victory in the Kaliganj Assembly bypoll by a margin of 50049 votes against BJP's Ashish Ghosh.
Speaking with ANI, Subhankar Sarkar demanded that the winning certificate provided to Alifa Ahmed must be cancelled or put on hold after the death of the minor girl.
"We hoped that bye-elections would be free, fair, and fearless. Counting of votes had not even ended, and the victory celebrations began. A girl died due to an explosion during the celebrations... The TMC candidate who has won the by-election has been awarded her certificate after the death of this girl... That certificate should be cancelled or put on hold," he said.
Congress West Bengal chief also demanded compensation of Rs 25 lakhs for the girl's family.
"Rs 25 lakh compensation should be paid to the girl's family... This shows that there is no law and order in the state," he said.
TMC's winning candidate in the bye-elections, Alifa Ahmad, said that she feels "ashamed" over the death of the girl and assured that action will be taken against the accused.
"I feel ashamed. This incident should not have happened. I assure that action will be taken against the accused," she said.
Meanwhile, National Women Commission (NCW) member Archana Majumdar said that the NCW has taken suo motu cognisance of the incident and asked police to submit a report within two days
"We have taken a suo motu cognisance. We have asked the police to submit a report within two days... This was not a post-poll violence; it was a post-poll celebration. This has also become a part of Bengal... We have taken this very seriously. We will make sure there is appropriate compensation," she said.
Criticising TMC over their victory procession, Archana Majumdar said that the CM Mamata Banerjee should be "held responsible" responsible for the death of the 13-year-old
"Anyone may win the elections, but it is not right to use socket bombs during celebrations... 4-5 socket bombs were blasted, one of them killed the child. The CM and the police should be held responsible. The government has to take responsibility for the death of the girl," Archana Majumdar said. (ANI)