West Bengal: Woman beaten, stripped and paraded naked by TMC ‘goons’ in Howrah district

On July 20, a female candidate who fought the recent Panchayat elections in West Bengal filed a complaint against Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers. The woman faced a similar plight as those in the viral video from Manipur. She too was stripped, paraded on streets, and touched her inappropriately.

The gram sabha candidate on July 20 said that she was physically assaulted and molested by the TMC workers on July 8, the polling day of Panchayat polls, an official statement said.

The victim alleged that the Trinamool goons stripped her naked and paraded her around the village on panchayat election day.

According to the officials, the incident happened in Dakshin Panchla under the Panchla police station in Howrah district. After the incident, an FIR (number–230/2023) was filed by the victim at the Panchla police station on July 20.

“On the polling day (July 8, 2023), while the voting was ongoing, the TMC candidate of the same Gram Sabha named Hemanta Roy, and few other TMC supported anti-social elements named Alfi Sk., Sukamal Panja, Ranabir Panja, Sanju Das, Noor Alam and about 40-50 other miscreants physically assaulted me at the polling station. They hit me on my chest, and head with sticks and pushed me out of the polling booth,” read the FIR.

“While some of these men were hitting me, Himanta Roy instigated Ali Sheikh and Sukamal Panja to tear my saree and inner dress. They further assaulted me, forced me to undress and get naked, and molested me in front of other people,” the FIR added.

The woman also alleged that TMC workers tore off her clothes, stripped her naked and paraded her in the entire village.

“They molested me in front of everyone and even touched me inappropriately,” she claimed.

Following the incident the BJP has targeted TMC for their ignorant state machinery which hide the case for so many days. The BJP state IT cell in charge Amit Malviya shared a copy of the FIR on July 21.

Sharing the copy he wrote, “Since Mamata Banerjee’s dead conscience has finally surfaced and she is, for a change, feeling ashamed, here is the complaint of Panchla victim, who was stripped naked inside a polling booth (on 8th Jul 2023), by TMC candidate and his henchmen… copy of the FIR, which names the perpetrators. She should take moral responsibility for this depravity and step down. Immediately. Before your conscience goes back to the grave, again…”

 

The BJP state president, Sukanta Majumdar conducted a press conference condemning the incident. With him was a Member of Parliament and state general secretary, Locket Chatterjee. While addressing the media and elaborating on the incident, Chatterjee turned emotional and started crying.

Quoting the Tweet of Mamata Banerjee on the Manipur incident, Amit Malviya wrote, “Do you have any shame at all Mamata Banerjee?

On 8th July 2023, day of the Panchayat poll, a Gram Sabha candidate, a woman, was beaten, stripped naked and paraded in Howrah’s Panchla, stone’s throw away from Nabanno, where you sit. Your police weren’t even taking FIR till the BJP forced it down.

Hemanta Roy, a TMC candidate from the same Gram Sabha, along with other criminals like Alfi Sk and 40-50 other men, hit her on chest, tore her saree and pulled off her innerwear before parading her naked.

You, as Home Minister of West Bengal, were expected to uphold law and order, instead, you chose to prevaricate… Trust me, the world is a better place without your broken heart, outrage, and fake concern for justice,” he added.

The Panchayat elections in West Bengal took place on July 8, and the counting of the votes for 63,229 -Gram Panchayat seats took place on July 11.

TMC has won 28,985 seats and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 7,764 seats, while Congress has secured 2,022 seats so far. TMC was leading on 1,540 panchayat seats while the BJP was leading on 417, according to the State Election Commission (SEC).

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) has won 2,409 seats and is leading in 260 seats. Other parties won 725 seats and led on 23 seats, while independents which included TMC rebels won 1,656 seats and are maintaining a lead in 104 seats.

Elections were held on July 8 under tight security, with approximately 5.67 crore voters participating and deciding the fate of 2.06 lakh candidates vying for 73,887 seats in rural areas of West Bengal.

However, the voting day was marred with widespread violence, looting of ballots papers and rigging. There were reports of booth capturing, damaging of ballot boxes and assault of presiding officers from several districts such as Murshidabad, Cooch Behar, Malda, South 24 Parganas, North Dinajpur and Nadia.

Reports also emerged of ballot boxes being set on fire and clashes between political parties in different locations.

(With inputs from ANI)