The Kolkata Police on Friday lodged a First Information Report (FIR) against West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Dilip Ghosh for allegedly making derogatory remarks towards a woman anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protester at a public rally on Thursday.
The FIR comes after the woman, a second year post graduate student of a city college, gave a written complaint at the Patuli Police Station. In her complaint, the woman has referred to remarks made by Mr. Ghosh to the media, and said she felt traumatised and feared for her life. In the complaint letter, the student has accused the BJP MP of “murderous intent along with sexual remarks”.
‘She was lucky’
The Bengal BJP president had told journalists on Thursday that the girl was lucky that “nothing more was done to her”.
“If they [the protesters] come close to our rally, then I’ll say it’s a good fortune of their fourteen generations that nothing more was done to her. There are lot of baghs [a reference to CAA protest ground Shaheen Bagh in Delhi], circus[es] where they can protest,” Mr. Ghosh said.
The State BJP president also said, “Why do such people have to come before our workers — to be in the news or become martyrs? This is very unfortunate. Nobody should do this. We have withstood a lot. We won’t withstand this kind of childish pranks.”
The police has pressed charges under Sections 354A (sexual harassment) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code against Mr. Ghosh.
Poster torn
According to eye witnesses, the woman was protesting against the CAA and also the possible countrywide National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR), when BJP activists led by Mr. Ghosh began a rally in support of the CAA in the Patuli area of the city.
The student was also carrying a poster that read: “No NRC, No NPR, No CAA”. When BJP supporters spotted her, they tore up the poster; some of them shouted ‘Jai Sri Ram’.
Trinamool Congress leader and State’s Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya condemned the remarks made by Mr. Ghosh. “The girl has got some courage,” the Minister said, praising the anti-CAA protester.
