The Raj Bhavan on Thursday made the CCTV footage of the premises from May 2, the day a woman, a contractual staffer at Raj Bhavan in Kolkata, accused West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose of molesting her, public.
The footage was reportedly shown to around 100 people from the public who had gathered in a dark room in the revered halls of Raj Bhavan. The audience was shown 69 minutes of footage from two CCTV cameras installed at the North Gate of Raj Bhavan, Hindustan Times reported.
The screening, meant to clear his name, has now pushed Bose into a fresh controversy, with the woman accusing him of revealing her identity.
The woman, in response, said, “The footage was released without my permission. The law of the land says that the identity of the complainant should be kept confidential. He (Governor Bose) should be charged for this too. If he is innocent, why is he not letting the police conduct an investigation? I will speak to the police about this,” Indian Express reported.
“What has he proved through this CCTV footage? He just revealed my identity. I know that the kind of position he is in, he will never be punished. He knows what he has done to me. I am ready for all types of tests,” the woman alleged on Thursday.
Earlier, in her police complaint, the woman said she works at Raj Bhawan on a contractual basis and stays in the staff quarters.
The complaint stated: “On 19.4.24, Governor sir told me to take some time out and to meet him with my CV. On 24.04.2024, at around 12.45 pm, he called me to his office room and, after some discussion, touched me. I somehow managed to leave the office room. He called me once again today, 02.05.2024. I took my supervisor along with me to the conference room because I was scared. After talking for a while about work, he asked the supervisor to leave. He prolonged the conversation by talking about my promotion. He said he will call me at night and asked me not to tell anyone. When I refused, he tried to touch me. I protested and left.”
Governor Bose has maintained the charges are “engineered narratives” meant to “stop my fight against corruption and violence in Bengal”.
Also Read: West Bengal Governor accused of molestation by Raj Bhavan staffer, can he be prosecuted?
Following the woman’s complaint, the Governor banned the entry of Kolkata police into Raj Bhavan premises for investigation and denied to share the CCTV footage. The Raj Bhavan on Wednesday stated that the Governor was ready to show the footage to any citizen of West Bengal but not to Mamata Banerjee and the police.
“Governor Bose has launched a programme ‘SACH KE SAAMNE’ in the background of the mischievous and fabricated allegations by the police that Raj Bhavan is not sparing the CCTV footage of an incident which is under the illegal and unconstitutional investigation of the police,” the Raj Bhavan said in a post on X handle.
“Governor has decided that the CCTV footage can be seen by any citizen of West Bengal — except politician Mamata Banerjee and her police for the stand they had taken, which is in public domain,” the post read.
Also Read: Raj Bhavan staffer accuses West Bengal Governor of molestation, he denies charge
Raj Bhavan sources told IE that 75 people were called and registered to watch the footage. These include people from Kolkata, Cooch Behar and Alipurduar in north Bengal. Sources said they also received a call from Burdwan and that many also enrolled through email.