School campaign to street protest: CJP prepares for Bengal showdown

The Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) is preparing for a major protest in Bengal on 8 September, threatening to gherao the Bankura district magistrate’s office if the West Bengal chief secretary does not meet its representatives by 7 September. The proposed agitation follows weeks of pressure over the death of Sheikh Mohammad Mafik, father of CJP volunteer Sheikh Abdul Hafiz, and what the group describes as police and administrative inaction.

CJP joint secretary Prem Akash Golu said the group had initially given the Bankura administration 10 days to act and subsequently extended the deadline after meeting the district magistrate. “The CJP never seeks confrontation,” Golu said, according to the organisation’s account, but warned that the party would proceed with the gherao if the chief secretary did not meet its representatives by 7 September.

The immediate issue, according to the CJP, is the alleged failure to arrest a man whom Hafiz says he identified from CCTV footage on 25 August. CJP leaders claimed that the man subsequently appeared publicly near Indas police station during Raksha Bandhan celebrations despite being identified in connection with the case.

Hafiz questioned the police response: “If an identified accused can move around publicly and still remains free, how can the common people expect justice from such administration?”

The party is demanding a school in Mafik’s name, an independent administrative inquiry headed by a retired high court judge, impartial legal action against all suspects and greater accountability from the administration.

For Hafiz, the school demand is particularly personal. He has repeatedly said he does not want financial compensation following his father’s death, but wants the government to build a high-quality school for children in the area. “My father is no more. What will I do with government compensation? I want the government to build a world-class school in my father’s name,” he had said earlier.