BJP leaders, including legislators, demonstrated for around 28 hours from Saturday to Sunday in front of the office of the superintendent of police here, questioning the role of the police in the Pakuahat incident.
The BJP on Saturday shared a video purporting to show an assault on two Scheduled Caste women who were branded thieves in Malda's Pakuahat during which their clothes were also torn, and alleged that Mamata Banerjee had failed as chief minister.
The video, first shared by BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya, was picked up by several Bengal BJP leaders to target the state government and Mamata at a time the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have come under attack for the Manipur violence, especially against tribal Kuki women.
Khagen Murmu, the BJP MP of Malda north, along with party’s MLAs Gopal Saha and Joel Murmu and other leaders and supporters, started the protest on Saturday after the video surfaced.
The incident occurred on July 8, sources said. Pakuahat is a locality under Malda's Bamangola police station.
“The two victims were arrested but the police couldn’t clarify why they were taken into custody. The police were trying to hush up the incident. We have reports that after the duo was arrested, they were made to sit in the police station for hours with torn clothes. This is utter apathy on the part of the police,” said Murmu, the MP.
As the BJP protesters shouted slogans and demanded that SP Pradeep Kumar Yadav should speak with them, a large contingent of police personnel were deployed at the spot to keep the situation under control.
Since Sunday morning, Amit Kumar Shaw, the additional SP (headquarters), and other police officials spoke with the BJP leaders repeatedly, asking them to withdraw the demonstration but in vain.
“The police should also take steps against the inspector-in-charge of Bamangola police station. Also, the role of local Trinamul leaders should be probed to find out if any had instigated the attack on these women,” the BJP MP added.
Around 3.30pm, the agitation was finally withdrawn as police officers informed the BJP leaders that those arrested in connection with the attack, have been taken in police custody.
“Five persons, including three women, who were arrested for assaulting the duo (the two women branded as thieves and assaulted), were produced at a local court on Sunday. The court heard the case and granted five days of police custody. We need to interrogate them to gather more information,” said a police officer.
The BJP leaders said they are hopeful that the five-member fact-finding team sent by the party’s national president J.P. Nadda to Bengal would visit Malda to meet the two victims.
On Sunday, the team, led by BJP leader Vinod Sonkar, the parliamentarian representing Kaushambi in Uttar Pradesh, reached Calcutta. He alleged that during and after panchayat elections, members of the Scheduled Caste community faced atrocities and even death at the hands of Trinamul.
“Out of 57 people who died due to the poll violence, 28 were SCs. Also, our party has lost 10 workers in the violence and eight among them are SCs. We will visit different locations and meet the affected families and workers and will submit a report to the national president,” said Sonkar.
He, however, didn’t clarify whether the team would visit Malda.
In Calcutta, the BJP held a demonstration in the Assembly on the issue. Protest rallies were held in different parts of the state.
Santanu Sen, Trinamul’s Rajya Sabha member, said that BJP was indulging in whataboutery.
“It (the Malda incident) was unfortunate and occurred out of a local issue. The police took steps. Arrests were made. The BJP is simply doing politics to divert peoples’ attention from the atrocious incidents in Manipur,” said Sen.
