Kolkata: The West Bengal Police on Monday filed FIRs against CPI-M state secretary Mohammed Salim and BJP state co-observer Amit Malviya for circulating a video of the public flogging incident in North Dinajpur’s Chopra last week.
The FIR was filed based on a complaint from the woman, seen in the video, for making the video viral.
Meanwhile, West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose has asked chief minister Mamata Banerjee to submit a report of the CBI enquiry of the violent incident of disrobing a woman, public flogging of the couple and operation of kangaroo courts with no effective action by police.
“Upon the authority vested in the Hon’ble Governor under Article 167 of the Constitution of India, Honourable Chief Minister has been called upon to submit the reports on: Action taken against the Commissioner of Police and the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Kolkata on the report sent by Hon’ble Governor to the Government of India and the Hon’ble Chief Minister,” an official statement said.
Before this, the governor had sought a report from Banerjee on the same incident on July 1.
BJP spokesperson Shamik Bhattacharya said that the woman has been “forced” to file the FIR against Malviya.
CPI-M leader Mohd Salim called it a “fake” case against the voice of protest. In a post on X, he wrote, “JCB gang and police work in tandem,” adding, “If they want to file FIR, let them do it. This is how they function.”
Salim told media persons that raising voice against something wrong has become a crime and that is why people get arrested. “In a similar way, Ambikesh Mahapatra was arrested by the Mamata Banerjee government. Now an FIR has been lodged against me,” Salim said.
The public flogging of a couple in the Chopra area on June 28 has turned into a major political controversy after a local Trinamool leader was arrested in the case. In the purported video, the Trinamool leader can be seen beating up the couple with a bamboo stick, following a kangaroo court decision. ET could not independently verify the video. Police arrested the accused Tajmul Islam alias ‘JCB’.
The video of the incident was shared on the social media handles of Malviya and Salim on June 30. Subsequent to public outrage, the police registered a case on their own and arrested Tajamul Islam, along with three others. They invoked attempted murder and molestation charges against the accused.
