3 min readKolkataAug 5, 2024 04:06 PM IST
First published on: Aug 5, 2024 at 04:06 PM IST
After his controversial remarks against a woman forest officer sparked a massive political row, Correctional Services minister Akhil Giri said Monday he had submitted his resignation to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
However, he also dug his heels saying he would not apologise to the woman officer.
“I have tendered my resignation through the chief secretary to the Chief Minister’s Office. But I will not apologise to any official. I may apologise to the chief minister,” Giri told reporters while coming out of the MLA hostel in the southern part of the city.
He added: “I lost my cool that day seeing people’s sufferings and how the forest department people were torturing them. I am sorry for using one particular word, but not for whatever else I said. Whatever I have done is for the cause of the people”.
In the latest incident, Giri, an MLA from Ramnagar in Purba Medinipur, was purportedly threatening a woman beat forest officer who was tasked with clearing encroachments in Tajpur.
Giri, accompanied by a group of local residents, is seen purportedly telling the woman forest officer: “You are a government employee, bow your head (in front of me) while speaking. See what happens to you within a week…. These goons… will ensure that you aren’t able to go home at night. Mend your ways, or else… I will beat you with a danda (stick)”.
This isn’t the first time Giri has been in the news for his statements. Last November, he had purportedly hinted in a viral video that there was a “reason” behind Governor C.V. Ananda Bose’s decision to inaugurate Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh’s Durga Puja event that October.
“Are we not aware of this? Don’t we know why he went to inaugurate the Durga Puja organised by Kunal Ghosh?” he had purportedly said in that clip. “It’s all there on WhatsApp. We’ll reveal it.”
In another viral video in 2022, Giri had purportedly made some comments on President Droupadi Murmu: “He (Leader of Opposition in state Assembly Suvendu Adhikari) said that I am not good-looking. How beautiful is he? We don’t judge anyone by their appearance. We respect the office of the President (of India). But how does our President look?”
Like in the previous instances, the BJP demanded Giri’s resignation in the latest incident too.
Despite his resignation, a defiant Giri said he was “heading to the Assembly. “My party asked me to resign. I did. But I will not apologise to anyone. I will go to the assembly as I am an MLA,” Giri told the media.
Bengal Jail minister Akhil Giri. (Photo Credit: File Photo/AkhilGiriAITC) 
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