Baruipur encounter death: CID to probe, family refuses to accept body of rape-accused

The Mother's Refusal: When Politics Bleeds Into Grief

A rape-accused named Prabhas Mondal died in a police encounter in Baruipur, West Bengal. The story should have ended there—another criminal off the streets, another case closed. But his mother refused to claim his body. She rejected her own son's corpse. The state cremated him alone, no family present, no last rites performed properly. This is not normal grief-theatre. This is raw, public rejection. And it tells you everything about what BJP is actually doing in Bengal right now.

What Actually Happened

On paper, this is straightforward: Mondal was accused of rape, police encountered him, he died. CID has ordered a probe—standard procedure for encounter deaths in India. The narrative the government will push: swift justice, criminal eliminated, women protected. The opposition will counter: extrajudicial killing, imitation of Yogi Adityanath's UP model, violation of human rights. Both sides will recite their scripts.

But here's what matters: his own mother rejected him publicly. In Indian culture, especially in Bengal, this is not just rejection of a son—it's rejection of his entire identity and actions. It's a mother saying, I disown not just this body, but everything he represented. When a mother does this in public, in front of the state machinery, in a Muslim-majority region where family bonds are particularly strong, it sends a signal that pierces through all political noise. That signal is simple: the crime was so grave, the shame so absolute, that even blood relations cannot stand with him.

What This Means for India

West Bengal just voted in BJP in 2024. Suvendu Adhikari, now effectively functioning as Home Minister in the state, is running a governance model straight from the Yogi Adityanath playbook. Encounter killings are not bugs in this system—they are features. They are the fastest way to broadcast control to a population that endured 34 years of TMC chaos under Mamata Banerjee.

Think about what encounter killings actually communicate to ordinary people, especially women: touch a woman, you disappear. No court delays. No bail. No lawyer games. Dead in days. This is not justice by rule of law. This is justice by terror. And in a state where CPI(M) collapsed into irrelevance, where TMC rotted from inside, where institutions are hollow, encounter killings become the language that actually works.

The opposition will scream "imitation of Yogi." They are correct. But they are missing the real pattern. In UP, Yogi ran 2,000+ encounters and won re-election. In Maharashtra, Fadnavis copied the model. Now Bengal is copying it. This is not aberration. This is the new governance model of BJP states.

The Deeper Story Nobody is Telling

Here's what the mainstream media won't say: encounter killings work. Not morally—legally, constitutionally, they fail. But they work politically. They reduce crime rates on paper. They make women feel (if not actually be) safer. They make weak institutions look strong. They give power to the state in ways courts never can.

But there's a darker layer. When a mother refuses to claim her son's body, when the state cremates him alone, when the narrative is controlled completely, something else is being embedded into the culture. It's not just fear of punishment. It's shame so deep that even family abandons you. The state didn't just kill a criminal—it destroyed his memory, his identity, his place in the family narrative. This is not new. This is how strong states have always worked. From the Mughals to the British to now.

What Comes Next

Watch for three things: First, more encounters in Bengal. Second, crime statistics will drop (at least on paper). Third, opposition protests will fade because they cannot compete with the mother's rejection—that image is more powerful than any political statement. By 2026, when Bengal votes again, encounter killings will be normalized. The question won't be whether they're happening. The question will be only whether they're working.

This is not the India of courts and constitutions. This is the India of swift state power, public shame, and mothers rejecting their own sons. Welcome to the new normal.

Follow BHARAT DECODED on Telegram: t.me/DecodedByRDS — Rajnish Sharma (RDS)