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Police book BJP leader after mob beats up mentally challenged woman in Jalpaiguri
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.
