BJP’s Bengal poll campaign film enacts rape scene, police report sought

The film claims that the mother of the minors was raped and slashed with a broken bottle in Birbhum district. The messages say that people of the state will no longer tolerate crime against women. The videos in question have still not been taken down from the party’s Twitter handle.

The West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights has sought a report from the Kolkata Police on a short poll campaign film made by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) showing theatrical enactment of an alleged rape.

A still from the Bengal BJP’s poll campaign film.(Video grab)

The information technology cell of the detective department has started a probe, said joint commissioner of police (crime) Murlidhar Sharma.

The BJP has intensified its social media campaign against the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) on various issues.

On July 9 and 10, the party posted three films on its official Twitter handle. The films are less than a minute long and show crime against women. One of these films portrays two minor children though their faces are not clearly shown.

The film claims that the mother of the minors was raped and slashed with a broken bottle in Birbhum district. The messages say that people of the state will no longer tolerate crime against women. The videos in question have still not been taken down from the party’s Twitter handle.

The commission, which is under the state women and child development and social welfare department, has written to Kolkata police commissioner Anuj Sharma that using minor children in such scenes is punishable under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and it also violates Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act. The commission has sought a report from the Kolkata Police.

BJP state general secretary Sayantan Basu said his party is not bothered by what the commission says.

“It (the commission) has no credibility. People who head these bodies owe their allegiance entirely to ruling party leaders. They will do anything that they are asked to. We are neither worried nor bothered,” said Basu.