A student of Jadavpur University (JU) has lodged a police complaint on Tuesday night alleging she was “attacked and verbally abused” by a group of supporters of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The local BJP leaders have not issued any statement countering the allegation. The student of JU’s Sociology Department, Barsha Baral said in her complaint that last night around when she and her friend Arjun Kar, a musician-activist, were reaching their residence in Bikramgarh in Jadavpur, south Kolkata, a group of about 40 men associated with the BJP chased them.
“They surrounded us, addressed us as naxals and used most foul language. Soon, they started beating Arjun randomly, then they assaulted me. They hit us with heavy instruments,” Ms. Baral said in her complaint.
Ms. Baral is associated with All India Students’ Association (AISA), affiliated to Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist (CPI-ML). Later local residents intervened and rescued Ms. Baral and Mr. Kar. Locals said that there was a meeting of BJP going on in the area at the time of the incident.
The participants identified Ms. Baral, who was in the forefront of anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) movement in the area, and assaulted her, the locals said. The attackers were heard saying that they “would identify my residence and target later,” Ms Baral alleged. “I am feeling extremely scared and insecure,” Ms Baral wrote in her complaint. The police conducted a preliminary probe, no one is arrested.
This is the second incident of attack in Jadavpur area in recent weeks. Earlier a film maker Debalina Majumdar was targeted. Another film maker Ronny Sen was also attacked . The targeted people are associated with anti-CAA and anti-NRC movement in West Bengal.
AISA is expected to organize a rally in Jadavpur area on Wednesday evening.
