According to Amit Malviya, the head of the BJP’s IT department shared a video of the alleged incident on social media. , Photo Credit: Twitter/@amitmalviya
A fresh controversy erupted on Saturday with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership in both West Bengal and New Delhi alleging that two women were stripped and assaulted in the state’s Malda district earlier this week.
BJP’s IT cell chief Amit Malviya shared a video of the alleged incident on social media and targeted Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the incident. According to Mr. Malviya, the incident took place on the morning of July 19 in the Pakua Haat area of Malda’s Bamangola police station area.
State Women and Child Development Minister Shashi Panja said that the police have taken on your own Cognizance has been taken of the incident and a case has been registered. Dr. Panja said that the incident is related to a case of theft inside a big haat (market) and the BJP leadership is trying to give political color to the incident.
“It was a case of theft, where two women tried to steal something from the market. A group of women tried to take law and order into their hands and started thrashing them. The civic police tried to intervene but the mob overpowered them,” said the minister.
Speaking about atrocities against women in opposition-ruled states of Bihar, Rajasthan, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said the BJP president had sent a delegation of women MPs to West Bengal who were shaken after visiting the state. Mr. Thakur also said that the reaction of minister Shashi Panja shows that the state government does not consider Malda incident as a crime.
Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani raised the Malda incident and said that the Congress party is silent on the issue as it has an understanding with the Trinamool Congress.
The state CPI(M) and Congress leadership also termed the Malda incident as “unfortunate” and demanded action from the state government. Another West Bengal minister and senior Trinamool Congress leader Sovandeb Chattopadhyay said the BJP leadership was trying to compare the situation in Manipur with West Bengal which was “ridiculous”.
Read also: Delayed indignation: On the Manipur violence and the over-the-top political response, No evidence of woman being stripped in Panchla: West Bengal DGP Manoj Malviya
The incident comes close to the BJP leadership’s allegation that a woman candidate of the party was stripped and paraded at Panchla in Howrah district for daring to contest the July 8 panchayat polls. On Friday, state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar and BJP MP Locket Chatterjee held a press conference in Delhi highlighting the alleged incidents and Ms Chatterjee broke down while interacting with the media.
West Bengal Director General of Police Manoj Malviya had said on Friday that there was no evidence to indicate any such incident in Panchla. “We asked the victim to submit an injury report and record her statement under section 164 of the (CrPC) before the court, although they have not yet come forward,” Mr Malviya said.
The DGP said Panchla had received a complaint over email on July 13 and an FIR was registered on July 14. Mr. Malviya said that no one has heard or seen such an incident and the central forces deployed during the Panchayat elections have not reported any such incident to the police.