The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday sought a report from the West Bengal home secretary on violence during a protest march by the Bharatiya Janata Party in the city earlier in the day, The Indian Express reported.
The court directed the official to file a report by September 19 on allegations that BJP supporters were stopped from attending the protest march to the state secretariat. The court also told the Kolkata Police not to make any unnecessary arrests or detentions in connection with the march.
Earlier on Tuesday, several BJP workers and police personnel sustained injuries in clashes during the protest. Several leaders of the saffron party, including the party’s state unit chief Sukanta Majumdar, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, Locket Chatterjee, Taapshi Mondol, Rahul Sinha and Dibankar Gharami, were detained.
A police vehicle was torched in Kolkata and officials of the force, including an assistant commissioner, were beaten up allegedly by BJP members. Visuals shared on social media showed a large number of persons, some of them holding BJP flags, surrounding the police official and beating him up.
Meanwhile, the National Commission for Women sought an explanation from the city police chief on allegations that senior BJP leader Meena Devi Purohit was assaulted by male police officers. The panel sought action against police officials who allegedly beat her up, and directed the Kolkata police commissioner to respond to its notice within seven days.
The commission said that prima facie, police officials who allegedly beat up Purohit could be prosecuted under sections of the Indian Penal Code dealing with molestation, voluntarily causing hurt and public servant disobeying law.
The BJP held the march against the alleged corruption by the ruling Trinamool Congress. Hundreds of saffron party supporters from across the state arrived in Kolkata and neighbouring Howrah on Tuesday morning to take part in the “Nabanna Abhijan” or march to the secretariat.
This is the saffron party’s biggest campaign against the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool government since its defeat in the Assembly elections last year.
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