Hundreds of BJP supporters hit the streets of Balurghat town on Tuesday and gathered in front of the local municipality to demonstrate for over an hour, demanding the arrest of Trinamul leader Pradipta Chakraborty, also the vice-chairperson of the civic body.

Chakraborty was hurriedly removed as president of Trinamul’s women’s wing in South Dinajpur district recently as she was seen as the main accused in the "forced" atonement case.

Allegedly, Chakraborty had forced four tribal women to perform the "dandi" atonement ritual before she re-inducted them into the party. The quartet were earlier with Trinamul but had defected to the BJP for a day.

However, Chakraborty is still the vice-chairperson of Balurghat municipality.

“We want her removal from the vice-chairperson's post. She should be arrested for forcing the tribal women to perform such an atrocious act. They are trying to shield her by arresting other people. But our movement will continue until she is arrested,” said Samit Prasad Dutta, a district BJP leader.

Trinamul, after the atonement ritual, had replaced Chakraborty with Snehalata Hembram, a tribal face, as the chief of the district women's wing. A delegation of Trinamul leaders, mostly from the tribal community, had also met the women.

However, the tribal community does not seem to be placated. On Monday, it observed a 12-hour statewide strike on the issue under the banner of Adivasi Sengel Abhiyan, which did have some impact.

On Tuesday, the BJP, which is backing the tribal community on this issue, took out a rally from its district office which moved through various streets and reached the civic body. There, BJP leaders and supporters held a demonstration and submitted a memorandum to the civic authorities.

Ashok Kumar Mitra, the civic chairman who heads the Trinamul-run board, said their party had not endorsed the atonement ritual.

“We don’t support it. Our party and the police have already taken certain steps. The state leadership is aware of the issue and we will obey any instruction that reaches us from them,” said Mitra.

Two Trinamul workers Biswanath Das and Ananda Roy, who were arrested in connection with the atonement case, were granted bail by a local court on Tuesday.

“They were in judicial custody and were produced in court today (Tuesday). We submitted their bail petitions and the court granted them bail with certain conditions,” said Debraj Chakraborty, the duo's lawyer.