1 held for damaging police kiosk, obstructing cops amid public dispute
Times of India | 19 November 2024
123 Kolkata: One person was arrested late on Monday evening for allegedly damaging a Kolkata traffic police kiosk and obstructing policemen after he was "upset" with police who detained a man on charges of misbehaving with a lady passenger inside a crowded bus.
This was the third instance of police coming under attack in the city in as many days, following the assault on an additional OC at Regent Park and another SI on Garden Reach flyover during a naka check on Sunday night.
According to police, it started when a woman tried to board a bus on route 44 from Sealdah flyover around 3.15 pm on Monday. The bus was crowded, and she got involved in a heated exchange with her co-passenger over the manner of boarding the bus. As the exchange of words increased, the female passenger alleged that she was verbally abused and her modesty outraged.
The sergeants from Sealdah Traffic Guard and Muchipara PS intervened and immediately deboarded the accused, contacting the Muchipara Police duty officer for backup. The accused was also taken to the nearby traffic kiosk, adjoining BR Singh Hospital, so that he could be handed over to the local police.
Suddenly a few locals, some supporting the woman and others backing the detained bus passenger, arrived at the kiosk and demanded the accused be released and handed over to them. As police refused, one of them, identified later as Biswakarma Shaw (51), picked up a bamboo stick and smashed the window pane of the kiosk. He also pushed and shoved the police who were trying to stop him. The Sealdah traffic guard then lodged a complaint with Entally Police and got Shaw, a resident of BB Ganguly Street, arrested.
The main FIR pertaining to misbehaviour against the woman could not be lodged as the victim herself wrote to Muchipara Police informing them the matter was "amicably" settled and that she did not wish to pursue the case anymore.
"The FIR named the accused person, namely Biswakarma Shaw, who damaged the glass of the police kiosk of Sealdah traffic guard, a govt property. Hence, the FIR against him has sections from the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act slapped against him along with normal BNS sections. The accused Shaw obstructed the on-duty police personnel by pushing and shoving them inside the Sealdah traffic guard kiosk beside Bangabandhu Mahatma Gandhi Statue on Beleghata Road near Sealdah Station premises," said a cop.