Two women were stripped and assaulted in West Bengal's Malda district earlier this week by a group of people, BJP claimed on Saturday.

A purported video of the incident showing a mob beating up the women mercilessly on Wednesday was shared in the social media by Amit Malviya, the head of BJP's IT cell on Saturday.

The claim was promptly rubbished by the ruling TMC, which accused the saffron party of resorting to "diversionary tactics".

Malviya tweeted, "The horror continues in West Bengal. Two tribal women were stripped naked, tortured and beaten mercilessly, while the police remained a mute spectator in Pakua Hat area of Bamangola police station, Malda.

He said, "The horrific incident took place on the morning of 19th July. The women belonged to the socially marginalised community and had a frenzied mob baying for their blood .... It had all the makings of a tragedy that should have 'broken' Mamata Banerjee's heart and she, instead of merely outraging, could have acted, since she is also the home minister of Bengal ...".

Rubbishing the charges, the state Minister for Women and Child Health, Shashi Panja told reporters here that the women were embroiled in a scuffle with other women who accused them of theft and women civic police volunteers who were present at the spot tried to stop them. Later the women left on their own.

She accused BJP of resorting to "diversionary tactics" by hyping a quarrel between local women over sale of vegetables and allegations of theft. "The scuffle has no political or casteist overtones," the minister asserted.

"After the surfacing of the video of two women being disrobed and paraded by a mob in Manipur, after hundreds of such incidents come to light every day and after the deafening silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for months even after Manipur burnt, BJP is now trying to deflect attention from the main issue.

"The main issue is the trampling of human rights, brutalities against women and the inaction of the BJP government in the state (Manipur). But BJP's ploy will not succeed. Everyone knows what happened in Manipur and the Centre's role in it ... BJP is unnecessarily making this a political issue," Panja said.

Referring to allegations by BJP about stripping of a woman gram sabha candidate during the July 8 rural poll, she asked "How come the fact finding team of BJP consisting of women MPs did not come across any such case? How come the central forces camping in the booths did not report anything? Police investigations too indicated no such incident took place. "We assert that Modi cannot escape facing queries by MPs in Parliament on the gruesome happenings in Manipur by using such tactics ... Bengal is not like Manipur or any other BJP-ruled states. No bestial crimes against women are reported in our state, which is helmed by a woman (Mamata Banerjee). Still if there is report of any incident our police and investigating agencies take necessary action," she added.

Police said the women had gone to sell their wares at the market at Bamangola in Malda district on the day and the people suspected them of committing theft.

A suo moto case was lodged by the police and five persons were detained in connection with the incident, a senior police officer of Malda police district told PTI.

"We are conducting raids at the moment. We are unable to tell much about the incident as the investigation is in its early stage," he said.

The Congress condemned the incident and claimed that the state was among the first five in the country where atrocities were committed against women.

WBPCC president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury alleged that several such cases were not even reported. "I strongly condemn the incident. Those responsible for it must be brought to book and the strictest punishment meted out to them," he told reporters here.

BJP's claim about the assault of women in Malda came on the heels of another by the state party president Sukanta Majumdar at a press conference in Delhi on Friday.

Majumdar claimed that "Manipur-like" situation was prevailing in West Bengal and a woman BJP candidate was disrobed and paraded at Panchla in Howrah district for daring to contest the rural poll held on July 8.

BJP MP Locket Chatterjee had even broken down during the press conference. "The West Bengal chief minister is silent despite being a woman. You tell us where we will go. We also want our daughters to be saved," she said.

The West Bengal director general police Manoj Malviya said on Friday that no evidence of the act was found.

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