Molestation allegations against Bengal Governor: As Raj Bhavan makes CCTV footage public, woman says identity shown

Following the woman’s complaint, the Governor had banned the entry of police into Raj Bhavan premises “under the guise of conducting unauthorised, illegitimate, sham and motivated ‘investigation’ to placate political bosses during elections”. Constitutional immunity bars the police from naming the Governor as an accused or investigating the case.

“What has he proved through this CCTV footage? He just revealed my identity. I know that the kind of position he is in, he will never be punished. He knows what he has done to me. I am ready for all types of tests,” the woman alleged on Thursday.

The Raj Bhavan did not comment on the woman’s allegations.

According to official sources, the footage shown includes recordings from two cameras in front of the North Gate of the Raj Bhavan.

In her police complaint, the woman has said she works at Raj Bhawan on a contractual basis, and stays in the staff quarters. It states: “On 19.4.24, Governor sir told me to take some time out and to meet him with my CV. On 24.04.2024, at around 12.45 pm, he called me to his office room and, after some discussion, touched me. I somehow managed to leave the office room. He called me once again today, 02.05.2024. I took my supervisor along with me to the conference room because I was scared. After talking for a while about work, he asked the supervisor to leave. He prolonged the conversation by talking about my promotion. He said he will call me at night and asked me not to tell anyone. When I refused, he tried to touch me. I protested and left.”

Governor Bose has maintained the charges are “engineered narratives” meant to “stop my fight against corruption and violence in Bengal”.

A source in the Raj Bhavan, who did not wish to be identified, said, “First, they (the complainant) were saying release the footage if you are not at fault. Now that we have released it, they are raising this issue. We have maintained since the beginning that the allegations are baseless.”

The Raj Bhavan had announced on Wednesday that CCTV footage would be shown the next morning, and that “any citizen of West Bengal except (Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee and her police” can register to watch it.

According to Raj Bhavan sources, 75 people called and registered to watch the footage. These include people from Kolkata, Cooch Behar and Alipurduar in north Bengal. Sources said they also received a call from Burdwan and that many also enrolled through email.

Reacting to the Raj Bhavan’s move, Bengal Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said on Friday, “What was there in the footage is what we already know. It shows the woman entering the Raj Bhavan and then she goes to the room of the OC (office in-charge), and this is exactly what the woman said. The video corroborates her statement. Nothing else.”