Incident of December 7 During Gita Path Event: 3 held for assault on chicken patty seller, get bail

The purported video showed Riajul surrounded by a group of people asking him who had allowed him to sell chicken during the Gita Path. After Riajul tells his name to the aggressive group of men, he is beaten and made to do sit-ups holding his ears. Riajul is seen requesting the crowd to let him go, while the mob continued abusing and assaulting him, and later threw away the patties he was selling.

“They asked me my name… As soon as I told them that I am Riajul Sheikh, they started hitting me. They told me to do sit-ups. Threw my food… For the last 23 years, I have been selling patties near the Brigade Ground, but I never witnessed this in Kolkata,” Riajul, a resident of Arambagh in Hooghly district, said.

The incident triggered outrage with the ruling TMC accusing the BJP of trying to impose a “mob-lynching culture” and dictate the food habits of Bengali residents.

Soon after the three men were arrested for voluntarily causing hurt, and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tore into the BJP, asserting that the state would not tolerate intimidation, communal division or attempts to dictate what people should eat. “This is West Bengal, not Uttar Pradesh… They beat up poor patty sellers. We arrested everyone. In every gathering, hawkers sell some food or the other. You have beaten a poor hawker. I will not spare anyone who harasses the poor,” the TMC supremo said at a public meeting in Krishnanagar in Nadia district.

The CM condemned what she alleged was the BJP’s attempt to “import a culture of communal division” and weaponise religious texts for political mobilisation.

“I do not believe in communal divisions. I respect all religions. What is the need to hold a public meeting just to read the Gita? We all read and recite the Gita. Those who pray to God or seek blessings from Allah do so in their hearts,” she said.

Taking a pointed jab at those “chanting ‘Gita, Gita’ for politics,” Banerjee added, “I want to ask them what Sri Krishna said about dharma. Dharma means purity of intention, humanity, and peace – not hatred or divisiveness. We all recite the Gita at home. God resides in our hearts.”

Reiterating her stand on personal freedoms, she warned that the BJP would “not allow consumption of non-veg” if voted to power.

“It is your choice whether you want to eat non-veg or not. But remember, I will not allow anyone to interfere in the matters of Adivasis, minorities or tapasilis,” she said, adding that her government would protect cultural and dietary rights.

After the three men were released, BJP leaders facilitated them in Kolkata.

“Today, I honoured the three Hindu warrior brothers – Soumik Bhai, Swarnendu Bhai, and Tarun Bhai, in Kolkata, in the presence of revered sages and saints. The honorable court granted them bail today. I want to tell Mamata Banerjee that you will not be able to suppress the Sanatanis by unleashing your party-slave police like this. The fight of the Sanatanis for the protection of Dharma (faith) will continue, and I, along with countless Hindu activists, stand by every Hindu participating in this fight,” BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition in Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, posted on X.