Crimes against women: BJP MLAs stage protest in Bengal Assembly premises

Kolkata: The women legislators of BJP on Monday staged a sit-in protest within the premises of the West Bengal Assembly against the rising cases of atrocities against women in the state.

The protest comes against the backdrop of two cases of atrocities being reported in the state. On June 25, a female BJP activist was assaulted in Mathabhanga in Cooch Behar district by a group of women Trinamool Congress workers. In another case, a woman and a man were mercilessly beaten up in a Kangaroo Court at Chopra in North Dinajpur district by a local Trinamool Congress leader, a video of which has gone viral.

Sources in Raj Bhavan said that Governor C.V. Ananda Bose has sought a detailed report on the Chopra incident from the state home department, which is under the direct control of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Four woman women BJP legislators led by the fashion designer-turned-politician and the party MLA from Asansol-Dakshin Assembly constituency Agnimitra Paul, sat on the main staircase leading to the Assembly hall carrying posters. They slammed the state government and the ruling party on the issue of atrocities against women.

“The Chief Minister is silent when the women in Bengal are attacked, harassed and even stripped of their clothes. We demand punishment for the accused involvement in harassment of women throughout the state, including Cooch Behar, and it is shame that democracy is stripped in Bengal,” -- were some of the writings on the posters they were holding.

“In the case of Cooch Behar initially the police were reluctant to even record the statement of the victim. They did that only after a member of the National Commission for Women reached Cooch Behar. After that the Chopra event surfaced,” Paul said.

The Speaker of the West Bengal Assembly, Biman Bandopadhyay said that despite being denied permission the BJP legislators were staging the protest within the Assembly premises. “I have asked the Marshal of the Assembly to take necessary action as per the legal provisions,” he said.

The leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, stated, "Be it the Cooch Behar incident where TMC goons disrobed a lady, molested & assaulted her for being associated with the BJP, or the Chopra, Islampur incident where a renowned TMC strongman Tajemul, publicly flogged a lady, which as per the local TMC MLA Hamidul Rahaman, was in accordance with the 'Muslim Rashtra' provisions. Such incidents are not exceptions, but a true portrayal of the sad reality of West Bengal."