West Bengal woman 'stripped, dragged on road'; BJP neta held
Times of India | 18 August 2024
NANDIGRAM: A BJP booth president, Tapas Das, was arrested in Nandigram on Saturday following a complaint by a woman that on Friday night a group of miscreants broke into her house and assaulted her for quitting BJP and joining Trinamool.
She was then dragged naked through the streets, the complaint stated.
While TMC has sent a delegation to meet the survivor, a search is on for the other accused.BJP, however, claimed that a family dispute was being given political colour.
The attack was reported in Panchanantala of Gokulnagar Gram Panchayat.
The injured woman has been admitted to Nandigram Super Specialty Hospital.
The survivor alleged: "I was at home with my son and daughter on Friday night... about thirty to forty people broke down the door, dragged me into the village, stripped me naked and beat me up. They dragged me a long way and tried to kill me. They fled as cops arrived."
"We were once with BJP but joined Trinamool before the recent elections. A few days ago, they beat me up and molested me in the village after which I had filed a police complaint. Friday's incident was an attempt to force me to withdraw the complaint," she added.
BJP's Nandigram I Block convener Abhijit Maiti said: "We condemn the attack on the woman... However, this incident has no connection with BJP. There is a conspiracy to falsely implicate us."
Reacting to this, Nandigram TMC functionary Sheikh Sufiyan said: "The woman's crime was that she and her husband had left BJP and joined Trinamool. They were pressured to rejoin the BJP, and when they refused, she was stripped naked and brutally beaten. We demand strict punishment for the miscreants."
Saying that a TMC delegation would visit Nandigram on Sunday, former Rajya Sabha MP Kunal Ghosh demanded swift arrest of all the accused.