A screengrab from the video shared by BJP's IT cell head Amit Malviya.
Credit: X/@amitmalviya
Kolkata: After a video was circulated online showing a local Trinamool Congress leader beating up a couple encircled by a mob in the Uttar Dinajpur district of West Bengal, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday renewed attacks on the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s party.
The local Trinamool Congress strongman, who was seen beating the couple with bamboo sticks, was arrested by police late in the evening after the video sparked outrage.
The victims were purportedly targeted because the woman allegedly had an extra-marital affair with the man.
The video was circulated online even as the TMC government recently drew flak over the alleged assault on a woman in the neighbouring Cooch Behar district. The BJP alleged that the victim was a member of its minority wing and she had been stripped, dragged by her hair for a kilometre, and beaten up by the TMC goons. The district police, however, stated that the woman had been assaulted due to a family dispute.
The CPI(M) state secretary Mohammed Salim on Sunday posted on X a video, alleging that the man seen in it beating the couple was a local goon known by the nickname ‘JCB’ and he owed allegiance to the Trinamool Congress. The BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar also posted the video in X. Salim and Majumdar echoed each other calling the misdeeds of the ‘JCB’, who was later identified as Tajmul Haque, an example of “bulldozer justice” in the state ruled by Mamata Banerjee.
Haque, who is known to be a close associate of local TMC legislator Hamidul Rahman, was later arrested and brought to the Islampur Police Station.
“There are certain social norms among the Muslims. But the way justice has been meted out is not correct. Excesses have been committed. We are reprimanding the villagers. The law will now take its own course,” Rahman, the MLA, told a TV channel.
The incident recorded in the video purportedly took place a few days back at Chopra in the North Dinajpur district of the state. A married woman allegedly deserted her husband and left with another man. When the couple returned, the local goons asked them to pay Rs 10000 as a fine. The ‘JCB’ allegedly beat up the couple because they could not pay up.
The video has ‘JCB’ dragging the woman by her hair. The woman fell on the road, but ‘JCB’ continued to beat her with bamboo sticks. A man was also seen lying on the road and being beaten up by ‘JCB’. The villagers surrounded the victim and, except a woman, no one else in the crowd tried to stop him from beating up the couple.
“Not even #KangarooCourt! Summary trial and punishment handed out by @AITCofficial goon nicknamed JCB. Literally bulldozer justice at Chopra under @MamataOfficial rule,” Salim, the CPI (M) state secretary, wrote after posting the video on X.
He alleged that Haque had also been involved in the murder of the young CPI(M) worker Mansoor Alam in June 2023.
“Shameful incident! A summary trial and punishment by a local goon known as JCB under @AITCofficial 's watch. This is bulldozer justice. @MamataOfficial's rule is deeply concerning, reminiscent of #KangarooCourt practices,” Majumdar, the state BJP chief and a union minister, wrote on X.
“India must wake up to the reality of Sharia Courts in TMC-run West Bengal. There is a #Sandeshkhali in every village and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is a curse for women,” Amit Malviya, who is in charge of the national Information Technology department of the BJP, wrote on the social media platform.
The alleged atrocities by the local TMC leaders on the villagers at Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, including women, was a major poll plank of the BJP during the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections and the saffron party used it to the hilt during the campaign against the party led by Banerjee.