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Journalism of Courage
Seven days after the three tribal women were made to crawl and perform “Dandavat Parikrama” in Balurghat, police arrested two persons under sections related to SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act among others.
Those arrested are Biswanath Das, an aide of Paradipta Chakraborty, former district Mahila Trinamool Congress, a day after the incident; and Ananda Roy, general secretary of Balurghat Town Trinamool Youth Congress. Roy is also a contract employee with Balurghat Municipality.
“Two persons were arrested in this case (and) booked under IPC Sections 505 (incitement), 509 (insulting the modesty of women) and SC, ST Atrocities Act. They were produced in court and remanded to judicial custody. They will be produced in court again on April 17,” said Sajal Ghosh, public prosecutor at Balurghat district court.
Also invoked, among other sections, is Section 3(1)(r) Of SC and ST Atrocities Act which deals with intentionally insulting or intimidating with intent to humiliate a member of a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe in any place within public view.
The Indian Express team visited the residence of Paradipta Chakraborty in Balurghat for the second consecutive day Thursday and was again told she wasn’t there. Chakraborty was removed from her post by the party a day after the incident and replaced by Snehalata Hembram.
On Wednesday, The Indian Express reported that the three tribal women – Martina Kisku, Thakran Soren and Shiuli Mardi — seen crawling in a 27-second video, purportedly from the BJP to the TMC office in Balurghat as “penance” for joining the BJP, said they were never with the BJP.
But their “Dandavat Parikrama”, The Indian Express learnt, was at the behest of the local TMC leadership. Shiuli’s husband Rajen, a TMC member since 2013, admitted to The Indian Express that there was “pressure” from “higher-ups” in the party to counter the BJP’s move. He did not elaborate who these “higher-ups” were.
Mrinal Sarkar, district TMC chief, said Thursday: “One of those arrested is in a party post. He will be removed soon. The police will take action against the guilty and will have to see that innocent people are not harassed in the case.”
Said Swarup Chowdhury, BJP district president: “To shield the main culprit, police have arrested the small fry. Why is the main culprit not arrested by police? We will continue our agitation until the main culprit is arrested.”
On April 6, the local BJP unit held a programme, wherein it claimed that over 100 people, mostly women, had joined them. A day later, on Good Friday, the three women crawled from close to the BJP’s local office to the TMC’s district headquarters.
Pradipta Chakraborty, president of the district TMC women’s wing, told the media the same day that the three women had been misled into joining the BJP, and that as “penance” they performed the “parikrama” before rejoining TMC.
The act was caught on camera, triggering widespread outrage and prompting the state BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar to write to President Droupadi Murmu and the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.
