TMC asks Bengal jails minister Akhil Giri to resign, he says will comply
Kolkata, Aug 4: The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Sunday asked West Bengal Jails Minister Akhil Giri to resign and apologise to a woman officer of the state forest department following a controversy over video clips showing him threatening and verbally abusing her.
Speaking to reporters at Kanthi in Purba Medinipur district, Giri said he will resign but won't apologise.
Giri, who is the MLA of Ramnagar within which the area is situated, was flanked by locals when he was seen in videos threatening forest ranger Manisha Sahu, warning her of reducing her tenure after she and her team removed encroachments on forest department land near Tajpur beach.
"Following party instructions, state president Subrata Bakshi called Akhil Giri on Sunday afternoon, instructing him to apologise to the woman officer and submit his resignation immediately," TMC spokesperson Shantanu Sen said.
Giri said there was "no question of apologising to any official," but he regretted his remarks made in an agitated state on Saturday. "I will email my resignation tonight and hand it over personally to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tomorrow in the Assembly," he added.
Another TMC spokesperson Jaiprakash Majumdar emphasised that the party does not tolerate such behaviour from its members and acknowledged that Giri's outburst had somewhat tarnished the party's image.
"We have learnt that he has decided to resign," he said.
Giri said he will continue to serve as an MLA even after resigning as a minister and will advocate for people in his constituency.
He reiterated his criticism of forest officials, claiming they lacked compassion by removing small traders who sold goods to tourists near the beach town, which is close to the more popular seaside resort town of Digha.
Giri also alleged that the officials had previously permitted the sheds in exchange for monetary considerations.
Forest Minister Birbaha Hansda said she had spoken to Sahu over the phone after the incident.
Incidentally, two years ago in 2022, Giri's controversial remarks about President Droupadi Murmu were severely criticised. TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee had to apologise for Giri's "derogatory remark" after a massive uproar by the opposition.
Majumdar argued that opposition parties, particularly the BJP, should not criticise the forest range officer issue, noting that the saffron party has not acted against its own leaders accused of making offensive remarks about women. He claimed that while the TMC is committed to taking strong action against its members for such behaviour, the BJP does not exhibit the same resolve.
Slamming Giri for his attitude towards a woman officer, the BJP on Saturday demanded that the minister be arrested and put behind the bars.
"Will Mamata Banerjee dare to throw out this minister and put him behind the bars? Will charges be filed against him for obstructing government workers and outraging the modesty of women? Let's see if this goon is kicked inside the jail for threatening to indirectly kill and outrage the modesty of a woman," the BJP posted on X.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
