Police book BJP leader after mob beats up mentally challenged woman in Jalpaiguri
West Bengal, July 17: Police registered the case after Taramani Roy, vice president of BJP Mahila Morcha, Jalpaiguri district committee was seen in a video where the mob was thrashing Sunita Bakshi (35) in Dhupguri area of Jalpaiguri.
Police in north Bengal’s Jalpaiguri town on Tuesday registered a case suo-motu against a BJP leader who allegedly led a mob which tied a mentally challenged woman to a pillar and thrashed her after accusing her of being a child lifter on Monday.
Police registered the case after Taramani Roy, vice president of BJP Mahila Morcha, Jalpaiguri district committee was seen in a video where the mob was thrashing Sunita Bakshi (35) in Dhupguri area of Jalpaiguri.
The incident is the latest in a series of assaults and lynching across the country where people have attacked strangers at the slightest suspicion of them being child lifters.
“A case has been initiated against Taramani Roy under IPC sections 143 (punishment for unlawful assembly), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 325 (punishment for voluntarily causing grievous hurt), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) and 304/511 (attempt to commit culpable homicide),” said Amitabha Maiti, superintendent of police of Jalpaiguri district.
Police said that Roy was on the run.
On Monday evening, residents of Kadamtala village that is a part of ward 9 of Dhupguri civic body confronted Sunita and wanted to know why she was roaming around in the area. Since she could not satisfy them with her answers, people began to suspect she was a child lifter and began beating her before Dhupguri police rescued her.
The police case against Roy triggered a spat between the Trinamool Congress and BJP.
“Taramani Roy led the mob last night. It was clear from the woman’s attire that she was mentally challenged. To attack her suspecting that she is a child lifter is a serious crime,” alleged Rajesh Kumar Singh, Trinamool Congress leader of Jalpaiguri district and vice chairman of Dhupguri municipality.
The BJP insists that Roy actually saved Sunita’s life
Debasis Chakraborty, BJP Jalpaiguri district committee president, claimed, “Had Taramani not intervened the victim would have been lynched by the mob. In a bid to rescue the victim, she could have slapped the victim a couple of times.”
Sunita is currently under the protection of Dhupguri police.
She is a resident of Balagarh in Hooghly district, more than 700 km from where she was assaulted.
“Yesterday she was taken to Dhupguri rural block hospital for treatment after which she was brought to the police station. Today, she was produced before a court in Jalpaiguri where her statement was recorded,” said Sanjay Dutta, inspector-in-charge of Dhupguri police station.
Courtesy: www.hindustantimes.com
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
MP boat tragedy: Death toll rises to 10 with recovery of one more body; 3 tourists still missing
Jabalpur (PTI): The body of a child was retrieved on Saturday evening from Bargi Dam in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, raising the death toll in the cruise boat tragedy that took place two days ago to ten, while search continued for three missing tourists.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, capsized during a storm on Thursday evening with some of the survivors alleging negligence and safety lapses such as life jackets not being distributed in time.
The body recovered on Saturday evening was possibly that of six-year-old Viraj Soni, said Sub-Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra.
"The identity will be confirmed after family members identify the body," he told PTI.
Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory at Khamaria, his five-year-old son Tamil, and another child Mayuram (5) who had come from southern India were still missing.
Authorities have arranged equipment to search deep waters of the dam and are getting a generator to facilitate diving operations, Mishra added.
Divers and disaster response teams have expanded the search radius to five km, he said.
Of the 41 identified passengers on board the ill-fated vessel, 28 were rescued, police said.
More than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, joined the search operation that resumed at 5 on Saturday morning. The operation, involving the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force and local divers, was briefly affected at around 9 am due to strong winds, officials said.
Post-mortem examinations of nine deceased persons have been completed, Mishra said.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will also register a First Information Report in the case soon," he said.
Police said CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the boat while the identities of 41 passengers have been confirmed so far.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the tragedy and dismissed three crew members. It also banned operation of similar vessels in the state.
