A 62-year-old woman who stays in Salt Lake has written to the chief minister seeking her “intervention and help” after she was allegedly assaulted and threatened by the husband of the local councillor who stands accused of trying to drive the family out of her parental home.
The woman stays on the first floor of a three-storeyed house in Salt Lake’s CG Block. She lodged an FIR with Bidhannagar East police station on December 26.
The complaints says Bhaskar Sinha Roy, husband of local Trinamul councillor Tulsi Sinha Roy, went to her house and started breaking the lock on the gate of one of the driveways.
When the woman protested, Sinha Roy allegedly abused her before assaulting and threatening to kill her, a police officer said quoting from the complaint.
A case has been drawn up under several IPC sections, including 354 (assault or use of criminal force on a woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 506 (criminal intimidation).
Bhaskar Sinha Roy denied the charges. The councillor said she did not want to comment as the issue has moved to court.
The Telegraph spoke to the complainant on Tuesday and she said she was living in a “constant state of fear and anxiety as she was molested and assaulted inside her own house”.
“It is impossible to come to terms with the fact that I, a senior citizen, am not safe in my own house.... He wants to throw us out of our home,” she said. The woman lives on the first floor of the house. Her younger brother lives on and off on the second floor.
Sinha Roy said he had bought the ground floor from the family of the woman’s elder brother. The plot, he said, has two driveways with garages. The councillor’s husband has set up an office in one of the garages.
He told The Telegraph the complainant did not let them use the second driveway, which he said was a common area. The complainant, however, said the second driveway was hers.
“An AC had malfunctioned. The only way we could access the unit was from the other driveway. I had requested the woman to let us use the driveway, but she refused and started abusing us,” said Sinha Roy, who has lodged a counter complaint.
He said: “I was stunned to know that if anyone is an active functionary of Trinamul, then that person will not be allowed to use the common area of a property purchased legally.
“I am a tax consultant and have been living in Salt Lake for several years. I fail to understand the logic of this complaint.... I had surrendered in a Salt Lake court on December 27.” The woman, a retired senior central government official, who lives with her husband, a retired academic, and son said she had sent an e-mail and written a letter to chief minister Mamata Banerjee seeking help.
“I have lodged a complaint on December 26. A week has passed but the cops have not done anything. We followed up with them on multiple occasions but all they said was that investigation was underway. Nothing concrete has happened. I hope the chief minister intervenes and ensures that we live in peace,” the woman said.
A senior officer of the Bidhannagar police commissionerate said they had started a probe. “We have received complaints from both parties and are investigating the case from every angle,” the officer said.