The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday, 15 September 2026, directed the West Bengal Police to preserve all CCTV footage related to the encounter killing of Pravas Mondal, a prime accused in the rape and murder of a minor girl in Baruipur, South 24 Parganas district. The order comes as scrutiny over the circumstances of Mondal's death continues to mount, with a petition already seeking a central agency investigation into the incident.

What the Court Directed

A division bench comprising Justice Arijit Banerjee and Justice Reetobroto Kumar Mitra also directed the swift completion of the ongoing investigation into the matter. The bench ruled that the investigation must be concluded before the next hearing, scheduled three weeks from Tuesday. The court's order to preserve CCTV footage signals judicial concern that key evidence must not be lost or tampered with during the probe.

Background: The Baruipur Case

In July 2026, a minor girl went missing from the Suryapur area under the jurisdiction of Baruipur Police Station in South 24 Parganas. Her body was subsequently recovered from a pond, stuffed inside a bag — a discovery that triggered a wave of violent public protests across Baruipur. During those unrest-filled days, an unrelated youth was also lynched by a mob, deepening the crisis.

Police arrested four individuals in connection with the crime: Pravas Mondal, Dibakar Sardar, Anand Sardar, and Kabir Mollah.

The Disputed Encounter on July 7

On the night of 7 July, police took Mondal to the crime scene for a reconstruction exercise. According to the official account from officials of the Baruipur Police District, Mondal allegedly snatched the firearm of a police officer, fired at the team, and was killed when investigating officer Arghya Mandal retaliated in self-defence. However, the account drew immediate scepticism from multiple quarters, with critics arguing the circumstances of the killing warranted independent scrutiny.

Following sustained questions about the encounter, the probe was transferred from the local police to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Notably, a separate petition has been filed in the Calcutta High Court demanding that a central agency take over the investigation — a request that remains pending.

Why This Case Matters

The Baruipur encounter sits at the intersection of several sensitive fault lines: the brutal rape and murder of a child, a spontaneous lynching during protests, and now a disputed police encounter of the prime accused. Each element has generated its own controversy. The court's directive to preserve CCTV footage suggests the judiciary is treating the encounter as a matter requiring evidentiary rigour, not merely a procedural formality.

This is not an isolated pattern — encounter killings of accused persons in high-profile crimes have repeatedly invited judicial intervention across Indian states in recent years, underscoring the tension between public demand for swift justice and constitutional safeguards. The outcome of the CID probe and the High Court's eventual ruling could set a significant precedent for how similar cases are handled in West Bengal.

All eyes will now be on whether the CID completes its investigation within the court's three-week deadline, and whether the High Court addresses the central-agency petition at the next hearing.