Bharatiya Janata Party’s West Bengal unit president Dilip Ghosh commended his BJP colleague Devdutta Maji who allegedly pushed and slapped a policeman during a scuffle at Kolkata’s Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital while the body of party worker Abhijit Sarkar was being handed over to his family on Thursday. The BJP has alleged that he was killed by Trinamool Congress supporters in the city on May 2 in violence following the assembly elections won by the TMC.
A scuffle broke out between policemen and BJP cadres while Sarkar’s family was waiting for his body. The party workers alleged that the police were harassing them in the name of issuing a no-objection certificate (NOC) while handing over the remains.
Maji, who contested the assembly polls from the Chowrangee Seat in Kolkata for the BJP, had a heated argument with a policeman and purportedly pushed and slapped him.
The BJP leader was seen making his way into the hospital premises along with Abhijit Sarkar’s family while in a tussle with the policeman. They later took the body for cremation after first bringing it to the BJP office at 6, Muralidhar Sen Lane in Kolkata.
“If he (Maji) slapped him (the policeman), I support him,” Ghosh said. “This ruling government should be slapped for such inhuman acts. The deceased’s family members were waiting to receive the body after four months and they (the police and health staff) were harassing them. He (Maji) did the right thing in such a situation.”
Violence in West Bengal after the April-May assembly elections has become a flashpoint between the victorious Trinamool Congress and its chief rival, the Bharatiya Janata Party. BJP leaders and supporters in the state have been alleging that many party workers have been killed, raped, assaulted brutally and their houses set on fire. They have accused TMC cadres of carrying out the attacks and alleged that the police were not doing anything to provide them protection. The Bengal government has said in response that the Election Commission was in charge of law and order when the post-poll violence broke out.
When contacted, Maji couldn’t clearly recall the incident. “It may be possible that to save myself I pushed a policeman,” he said. “It was an emotional moment but they (the police) misbehaved with the family members. It all happened just in the heat of the moment.”
Abhijit Sarkar’s brother Biswajit alleged that a group of TMC supporters tied a television wire around the deceased’s neck and dragged him along the road at Narkeldanga area in Kolkata on May 2, the day the results for the fiercely fought assembly elections were announced.
On September 8, a city court ordered that the body be handed over to his family members. The directive came after petitioner and BJP leader Priyanka Tibrewal appealed for the release of the remains and the post-mortem/DNA report. There was a delay of about four months in the whole process as the family members had refused to accept the remains from local police because they could not identify the body after two autopsies. They then moved a city court, questioning the findings of the first post-mortem report. On July 2, the court ordered a second autopsy and a DNA report.
“After four months, we finally received his body today and that too after the intervention of the court. He was mercilessly beaten up in front of us. TMC goons tied a television wire around Abhijit’s neck and he was dragged out of the house. They smashed his head with a heavy object. Then, the local police station refused to accept any complaint from us,” said Biswajit Sarkar.
A tussle began afresh between policemen and BJP workers around 3pm after Sarkar’s funeral procession was diverted from a couple of intersections in central and south Kolkata. The situation was brought under control after the intervention of senior police officials.
“We appealed the lower court in Sealdah for Abhijit Sarkar’s body along with the post-mortem examination report,” said Tibrewal. “We also pleaded that the DNA report must be handed over to his family members. After hearing the matter, the court on Wednesday had given the permission. The court asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to hand over the probe reports and directed the hospital authorities to hand over Abhijit’s body to his family members.”
Tapas Roy, the deputy chief whip of the TMC in the state assembly, meanwhile, demanded the immediate arrest of BJP leader Maji for assaulting a policeman.
“Since 2019, BJP leaders are violating law and order in Bengal. I condemn the way he (Devdutta Maji) misbehaved with the policeman,” he said. “I am shocked that state BJP president Dilip Ghosh supported his actions. I think for supporting the act, Dilip Ghosh should also be arrested.”
Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Assembly Elections Live Updates here.
Comments
0 comment