The West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights has sought a report from the Kolkata Police about an election campaign film made by the Bharatiya Janata Party showing a theatrical enactment of a rape incident, the Hindustan Times reported on Monday. Both the saffron party and the ruling Trinamool Congress have intensified their social media campaign ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Murlidhar Sharma told the newspaper that the information technology cell of the detective department has started an inquiry.
On July 9 and July 10, the BJP posted the video on its official Twitter handle. The video, which is less than a minute long, shows crimes committed against women and portrays two minor children. The incident is narrated from the perspective of a child. The film showed that their mother was raped and injured with a broken bottle, with a message in the end about how people of the state will no longer tolerate such crimes.
The state child rights commission wrote to the Kolkata Police Commissioner Anuj Sharma. The panel pointed out that using minor children in scenes is punishable under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and that also violates Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act.
However, BJP State General Secretary Sayantan Basu said his party was not “bothered” by what the child commission had to say in the matter. “It [the commission] has no credibility,” Basu added. “People who head these bodies owe their allegiance entirely to ruling party leaders. They will do anything that they are asked to. We are neither worried nor bothered.”
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