Singer Lagnajita Chakraborty alleges harassment during performance in West Bengal: ‘He wanted to beat me up’

Lagnajita Chakraborty says she was heckled and physically harassed for performing a devotional song at a private function on Saturday.

Bengali singer Lagnajita Chakraborty has shared that she was heckled and physically harassed for performing a devotional song at a private function in Kolkata, West Bengal. Speaking to news agency ANI, Lagnajita shared that a man charged towards her with the intention to hit her after she sang the devotional song 'Jago Maa' from the movie Devi Chowdhurani.

Lagnajita Chakraborty shared that a man charged towards her with the "intention to hit" her at the function.

What Lagnajita shared

Talking about what happened during the function, Lagnajita shared, “I had started my show at around 7 pm and it was going smoothly. At around 7:45 pm, I was done singing 7 songs and I was going to start with my 8th one in the list... This 7th song is called 'Jago Maa' from the movie 'Devi Choudhurani', which was released during this Pujo. While I was interacting with the audience after this song, I suddenly saw one man from the audience charging towards the stage... He came very close to my face.”

‘People rushed to save me and were pulling him away’

She went on to add, “The school that I was performing in, was recording my whole concert, which is very normal, as every organiser does it. But I don't have access to that video recording because it belongs to the school. If somebody can access the video, if it comes out in public, then everybody can see that Mahboob Mallick charged towards the stage with the intention of hitting me. In plain words, he wanted to beat me up... While people rushed to save me and were pulling him away, he shouted, ‘Enough of Jago Maa, now sing something secular’.”

Lagnajita also said, “Bangla is a beautiful language with many words that can be used to refer to a person, but he called me 'tu', which I am not okay with. That's not part of our culture. We don't do that to an unknown person or a guest. It is used for very near and dear ones or is used as an abuse... I went to the Bhagwanpur Police Station after leaving from the show, and filed a GD... I have full faith in my police and administration, and I know such an incident will not happen again... I have another show in the coming days in the Arambagh area, and I am going to sing 'Jago Maa' as my 7th number. I know the police and administration will ensure that I sing Jago Maa and do not get beaten up for it, and I return home safe and sound.”

The case is currently under investigation. The Purba Medinipur police have arrested the alleged accused, as per the latest update from ANI. SP of Purba Medinipur, Mithun De, called the incident ‘unfortunate’.