‘Assault’ on BJP minority morcha worker: Bengal LoP Suvendu Adhikari says police is ‘protecting the perpetrators’

“Just imagine the audacity of Mamata Police. They are asking the lady BJP minority morcha leader, who was completely disrobed, molested & brutally beaten up by TMC goons in Cooch Behar district, to submit the torn clothes which were forcefully stripped off her,” he wrote, adding that the victim’s family members had found her “lying unconscious…and almost…stark naked”.

On June 25, the BJP had alleged that the party’s minority morcha woman leader was beaten up, stripped and dragged by her hair by TMC miscreants in Cooch Behar district on June 25. The police had arrested seven persons in connection with the incident, while the BJP has been insisting on a CBI probe. While the party has accused TMC workers of attacking the women, the ruling party said that so far, investigations have found the incident was the result of a family feud. The National Commission for Women (NCW) had taken cognizance of the matter and sent its representative to meet the victim after Adhikari wrote a letter to the organisation on June 28.

The Trinamool Congress slammed the opposition leader for Adhikari’s comments. Speaking to The Indian Express, TMC state vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar said that Adhikari has adopted “a preposterous, publicity-mongering attitude”. “Suvendu Adhikari has no other issues to address after his party’s decisive defeat in the Lok Sabha polls in Bengal. Now, he is saying this to seek attention and stay alive in the media,” he said.

Majumdar added, “Police are working as per the rulebook for any complaint of assault on a woman. All the evidence lying with the victim will be seized or sought by the police. That’s the normal procedure, be it in West Bengal or in Uttar Pradesh. Accordingly, the police have acted promptly and decisively.”

Cooch Behar Police had earlier said in a statement that “it is being falsely reported that the woman was stripped and beaten for supporting a political party. This misinformation is being used to give communal and political support. The incident was the result of a family dispute”.