Well-known Kolkata-based photographer and film-maker Ronny Sen was allegedly manhandled on Monday night for participating in the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) protests in Kolkata.
Mr. Sen filed a police complaint, where he accused one Avijit Dasgupta of harassing him for his anti-CAA, NRC protests. The incident took place in upmarket residential area Salt Lake, he said.
Mr. Sen’s debut feature Cat Sticks was recently premièred in Slamdance Film Festival and bagged a Jury Award. The film was also nominated for the top prize at the recently concluded 25th Kolkata International Film Festival.
Mr. Sen told The Hindu that “on several occasions” he was threatened by Dasgupta, who preferred to describe himself as “a Hindu nationalist.” “He [Dasgupta] repeatedly asked me to refrain from posting against the CAA and the NRC and [not to] participate in activities which he considers as anti-national,” Mr. Sen said.
Finally the filmmaker decided to meet Mr. Dasgupta on Monday night. While talking, Mr. Sen was “attacked with a Bhojali (machete)” and survived with minor injury. “I am safe and unhurt. Immediately I lodged a police complaint last night. It is such a revelation that attacking, killing, shooting, people in the name of nationalism is so normal in today’s India,” Mr. Sen said in a social media message.
Jadavpur University incident
In another incident, Doyeeta Majumder, an assistant professor of Jadavpur University’s English Department, alleged that she was “roughed up” near the university by people associated with the BJP.
She alleged in a social media post that the BJP’s local workers were “spewing naked hate speech against Muslims” in a public meeting in Jadavpur near the university where she teaches in south Kolkata.
Ms Majumder said she objected to the hate speech. “[The speakers] turned and pointed at the campus and started saying 'this University is the root of all evil, they all chant Allahu Akbar every day'. I snorted out loud, and shouted 'mithye kotha' [all lies], twice,” she stated.
Following her protest, Ms Majumder was allegedly attacked by a group of women who, she claimed, are associated with the BJP. “Ultimately, I was dragged kicking and screaming by two (presumably BJP) men…” she said.
Ms Majumder has registered a complaint in the local police station.
Last week, well-known documentary film-maker Debalina Majumder was targeted for organizing an anti-CAA, NRC protest in the Jadavpur area.
