Two women were stripped and beaten in Bengal’s Malda: BJP targets Mamata government; TMC says the issue is being ‘politicised’

New Delhi/Kolkata: Days after two tribal women were allegedly “stripped naked, tortured and mercilessly thrashed” in West Bengal’s Malda while the police remained “mute spectators”, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of targeting women for failing to provide security in the state.

In its response, the ruling Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress said the BJP was unnecessarily politicizing the issue and that the women were caught stealing, sparking outrage among locals. BJP’s IT department head Amit Malviya posted on Twitter a purported video of the incident that surfaced on social media today, in which he claimed that the incident took place on July 19 at Pakua Haat, a weekly market under Bamangola police station in Malda. The ruling Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress, in its response, said the BJP was unnecessarily politicizing the issue.

West Bengal Women and Child Development Minister Shashi Panja said, “There is absolutely no need to politicize the Malda incident. It was a case of theft where two women tried to steal something from the market. A group of women tried to take law and order into their hands and started thrashing them. However, the police reached the spot. A case has been registered and the police is probing the matter.”

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“It has nothing to do with politics, though we have taken suo motu cognizance of the incident,” Panja said. “Terror continues in West Bengal. Two tribal women were stripped naked, tortured and mercilessly thrashed in Pakua Haat area of ​​Malda’s Bamangola police station while the police remained mute spectators,” Malviya tweeted.

“The horrific incident took place on the morning of 19th July. The woman was from a socially marginalized community and a frenzied mob was thirsty for her blood…” said Malviya, the party’s in-charge of BJP in West Bengal.

Attacking state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Malviya posted, “It was such a tragedy that Mamata Banerjee should have been heartbroken and instead of just expressing outrage, she could have taken action as she is also the Home Minister of Bengal…” Malviya said. Malviya alleged that the Chief Minister of West Bengal “chose to do nothing”.

“Neither did he condone the vandalism nor express pain and anguish as that would have exposed his own failure as a chief minister. But a day later, she shed tears and shouted Blue Murder because it was politically expedient…” the BJP leader tweeted.

Mamata Banerjee had launched a scathing attack on the BJP-led government over the incident in violence-hit Manipur, where the BJP is in power, where two women were paraded naked and a video of the May 4 incident went viral on social media, triggering nationwide outrage and condemnation from political leaders. Opposition leaders also raised the issue in the ongoing monsoon session of Parliament.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has also targeted the “anarchy” of the West Bengal government regarding the Malda incident. CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat said, “The Malda incident should not be compared with Manipur. Atrocities against women in any part of the country are condemnable… The West Bengal incident where ‘tribal’ women can be seen beating up other ‘tribal’ women is condemnable… This is just an example of the lawlessness of the West Bengal government…”

Meanwhile, a BJP worker from South Panchala of Howrah in West Bengal on Friday claimed that during the recent panchayat elections in the state, he was dragged outside the polling booth and his clothes were torn. The woman told that she has lodged an FIR of the incident.