West Bengal shocker: Political bloodbath is nothing new to the state of West Bengal. And with elections fast approaching, the threat of things spiraling out of hand cannot be completely denied. While incidents of mass violence that derailed the entire Panchayat election process not very long ago are still fresh in people’s memories, two videos of a woman being assaulted mercilessly shows how fearless these abusers of the law have actually become.
The videos pertain to a woman being beaten, thrashed and manhandled twice in a day is nothing short of a stigma for a state which boasts of a matriarchal society. The shocking incident took place on September 26 during the 12-hour bandh called by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Shockingly, both the incidents happened in full view of the public, police as well as cameras.
The first incident took place in the morning when the victim, reportedly a BJP supporter, was holding a rail blockade in Barasat, around 25 km from state capital Kolkata. A group of people were seen forcing them to withdraw the blockade in front of the police. During this melee, the woman can be seen being pushed, manhandled and kicked from behind. As she fell to the ground, police limited themselves to the role of passive onlookers.
The video, that went viral on social media since then, was broadcast in Bengali channels and evoked much hue and cry in social media too.
However, the harrowing experience for the woman did not stop there. A video, which has been doing the rounds on social media since Saturday night, shows that she was again attacked by a person. The incident purportedly took place on the day of the bandh when she was talking to a national news channel. As the camera kept rolling, a man was seen attacking the woman.
While BJP has blamed Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress for this brazen attack, the ruling party has not spoken on the incident yet, as per reports.
BJP had called the bandh to protest against the alleged killing of two youths in police firing at Islampur in Uttar Dinajpur district. On Sunday, one person was killed and two others received bullet injuries after a clash broke out between two groups in South 24 Parganas district, police was quoted as saying by PTI. The incident happened at Canning bus stand under the jurisdiction of Canning police station. Trouble began after the two groups, belonging to the same party, clashed at a rally organised by its youth wing, a police officer told PTI.