The incident, initially reported as a stampede, occurred when there was a huge rush of pilgrims to board vessels to reach Kolkata.
From carrying portraits of their sons and husbands who have committed suicide due to agrarian distress to picketing to doing sewa 24x7 at langars, women have shown a rare determination not to capitulate before the government.
Picketeers blocked rail traffic at several places in the Sealdah-Ranaghat, Sealdah-Bongaon and Sealdah-Barasat section for several hours.
Normal life was partially affected in West Bengal on Thursday following a state-wide 12-hour general strike called by Left Parties and trade unions, with the Bharatiya Janata Party also calling a 10-hour bandh to protest against alleged violence by ruling Trinamool Congress in the recent civic polls.
An apex court bench headed by Justice S K Kaul also asked the BJP state unit to submit a revised plan for its "Save Democracy Rally" for consideration by the state government.
The apex court, however, allowed the West Bengal unit of the BJP to continue with its proposed public rallies and meetings under its "Ganatantra Bachao Yatra".
The Bangladesh navy has detained 72 Indian fishermen for allegedly fishing in its territorial waters near southwestern Sharankhola coastlines, officials said on Tuesday.
The UNICEF said an estimated 2.4 million children have been affected by the recent floods in the country.
With Communist Party India-Marxist and Trinamool workers clashing in South 24 Parganas district and indulging in violence, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday held a high-level meeting at the state secretariat in Kolkata.
A low-intensity bomb on Saturday went off in a school ground in North 24 Parganas district in Kolkata injuring one person, a top police official said.
Two persons were killed in Uttar Pradesh's Ballia district as strong winds and thunder showers hit several parts of the state. While one died in a tree fall incident the other was hit by lightning, the police said.
The body count, mostly from suicides after the chit fund bubble burst, went up to 11 on Tuesday with the death of an agent and an alleged suicide by a chit fund firm director.
Election Commission officials said they have deployed around 680 companies of central police forces and over 20,000 state police personnel in over 53 constituencies of South 24 Parganas, Kolkata South and Hooghly districts going to the hustings on Saturday in the fifth phase of polling.
The chitfund scam in West Bengal claimed its twelfth victim on Monday with an agent of a ponzy scheme found hanging in his home at Basirhat in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district.
Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Monday said that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who had earlier objected on certain issues, has a 'positive mind' towards the National Counter Terrorism Centre.
A senior Maoist leader identified as Anukul Chandra Naskar alias Pareshji, who is also a politburo member of the CPI (Maoist), was arrested by a joint team of the Andhra Pradesh Police and Assam Police.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on warned against any attempts to forcibly enforce general strike called on February 20 and 21 by central trade unions and said that her government will ensure normal life in the state on the two days.
A passenger of an auto-rickshaw was killed and its driver injured when a bomb kept in a bag held by the passenger exploded in South 24 Parganas district on Saturday, the police said
The dry-run was being conducted in state capitals in at least three session sites. Some states also included districts that are situated in difficult terrain or have poor logistical support, according to officials.
Mamata took to Facebook and wrote that "some BJP supporters are trying to spread hatred ideology through one section of media -- so-called BJP media and so-called fake video, fake news, misinformation and disinformation to create confusion and to suppress truth and reality."
A middle-aged woman was allegedly gang-raped and murdered at Jagannathpur in West Bengal's North 24-Parganas district on a day the nation was mourning the tragic death of the Delhi rape victim.
Three Congress workers were killed ahead of Monday's fourth phase of panchayat polls in four districts of West Bengal and at least 100 houses vandalised and looted in South 24-Parganas district on Sunday.
Hailing the court's decision to grant bail to Asian Games gold medallist Pinki Pramanik, the Bengal sports fraternity on Tuesday demanded punishment for those who are guilty of mistreating the athlete.
Two children died and over 400 others were hospitalised after eating food at an iftaar party in North 24 Parganas district in West Bengal, Minister of State for Health Chandrima Bhattacharya said on Tuesday.
Asian Games gold medalist Pinki Pramanik walked out of jail after 26 days on Wednesday and said she was falsely implicated in the rape case. She was arrested after a woman charged that the athlete was male and had raped her.
Asian Games gold medalist Pinki Pramanik, arrested after a woman charged that the athlete was a male and had raped her, was on Tuesday granted bail by a court in North 24 Parganas district after spending 25 days in judicial custody.
Seven people were killed as thunderstorm hit West Bengal, officials said in Kolkata on Saturday.
The gender of Asian Games gold medalist Pinki Pramanik could not be established at the Barasat General Hospital, as it does not have the facility. The case may be referred to the better equipped SSKM Hospital in Kolkata.
The 2006 Asian Games gold medalist Pinki Pramanik was arrested on charges of 'rape' and allegations that she was actually a 'male'.
Instead of arresting suspects and handing them over to the police for trial, BSF soldiers are often accused of taking the law in their hands, says Syed Tashfin Chowdhury
Deaths in the worst-ever hooch tragedy in West Bengal continued unabated on Friday with the toll touching 171 amidst fears of more casualties as authorities suspended the excise officer-in-charge for dereliction of duty.
In one of the worst hooch tragedies in West Bengal, 57 people, mostly labourers, rickshaw-pullers and hawkers, died and over hundred have been hospitalised in serious condition after consuming illicit liquor at Mograhat in South 24 Parganas district on Wednesday.
As Pranab Mukherjee was sworn in as the 13th President, a band of his friends in a corner of Bengal on Wednesday recalled with nostalgia the days spent with him.
This is the first time in many years that the BJP has been elected to the gram panchayat level in every district of the state.
The chromosome pattern test report (Karyotyping) of Asian Games gold medalist Pinki Pramanik to determine her gender was on Monday received and would be sent to a court at Barasat in North 24-Parganas district on Tuesday.
Kolkata and parts of West Bengal were on Wednesday rocked by successive mild tremors in a span of less than two hours, following the massive temblors in Sumatra. The first tremor was felt at 2.42 pm and the second at 4.13 pm, said Regional Meteorological Centre Director G C Debnath. Tremors were also felt in North and South 24 Parganas districts adjoining Kolkata and in Darjeeling and Siliguri in north Bengal, official reports said.
Four persons, including the wife of the main accused Noor Islam Sheikh alias 'Khora' Badshah, were arrested on Sunday in connection with West Bengal's worst illicit liquor tragedy that claimed over 170 lives in South 24 Parganas district.
In one of the worst hooch tragedies in West Bengal, 57 people, mostly labourers, rickshaw-pullers and hawkers, died and over hundred have been hospitalised in serious condition after consuming illicit liquor at Mograhat in South 24 Parganas district on Wednesday.
In one of the worst hooch tragedies in West Bengal, 57 people, mostly labourers, rickshaw-pullers and hawkers, died and over hundred have been hospitalised in serious condition after consuming illicit liquor at Mograhat in South 24 Parganas district on Wednesday.
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