The accused, Tajimul Hossain alias JCB, was arrested on Sunday and produced in the Islampur sub-divisional court by the police on Monday. The court granted police five-day custody of the accused.
After the video of a man and a woman being whipped, kicked and punched at a “salishi sabha (kangaroo court)” went viral and sparked outrage, police had lodged a suo motu case. The kangaroo court was allegedly summoned after the couple were accused of having an extramarital affair.
The man who appeared to be leading the assault was eventually identified by the police as Hossain.
“A case has been initiated under the IPC sections 323/325/354/307/34. The sections are related to attempt to murder, assault with the intent to outrage the modesty of woman, voluntarily causing grievous hurt and common intention,” said a senior police officer.
The incident took place in Uttar Dinajpur district on June 28. Sources said there were around 200 people present when the “punishment” was meted out.
While opposition parties have pointed fingers at the Trinamool Congress leadership in Bengal, calling it ‘Talibani Rule’ and alleging a breakdown of law and order in Bengal, TMC leadership condemned the incident and reiterated that the accused has been arrested.
BJP state president and MP Sukanta Majumder said the accused is a close associate of the TMC MLA Hamidul Islam. “Such incidents are happening frequently and it proves people have no faith in the administration. It seems that a section of TMC leaders believe that there is a separate country within a country. Law and order have broken down,” he said.
Former Rajya Sabha MP of TMC Shaunak Sen said, “Our party and the government do not support such activities. Police have taken suo motu cognizance, and the main accused has been arrested. The victim has been given police security. If there is anyone else involved, he or she will not be spared.”
“TMC has zero tolerance for such incidents. On the contrary, during the Left rule and in BJP-ruled states… they never condemned such incidents or took action. That’s the difference,” Sen said.