A woman and her father were allegedly assaulted on Sunday by the followers of a local Trinamool Congress councillor in the Bardhaman Sadar area in the Bardhaman district for filing an RTI regarding illegal construction in the locality.
The woman claimed she was “molested” by the TMC workers. The TMC councillor Bashiruddin Ahmed, however, denied the allegation.
The incident took place at around 10 a.m. when local TMC workers asked the woman and her father to meet Mr. Ahmed. When she and her father reached the place, five minutes’ walk from her home, Mr. Ahmed along with 30 to 40 followers was already there.
“Suddenly they said that I was recording the incident on my phone and smashed it on the ground. Then they started beating my father,” she told The Hindu . She also alleged that the TMC workers pushed her on the ground and assaulted her.
“They molested me in broad daylight and dragged me on the road,” she added. With the intervention of a local resident, she and her father were able to go home.
“The entire mob followed us and vandalised our house. Even though the police asked them to sort the matter out at the police station, but they demanded that I must apologise immediately,” the woman said.
Then a large police contingent reached the spot and dispersed the mob. She, however, had not been able to lodge an FIR during the day as she was fearing for her safety. “I could not step out of my house and will lodge the FIR tomorrow (Monday),” she said.
Denying the charges, Mr. Ahmed said that the woman and her father were creating unnecessary trouble in the neighbourhood by objecting to a “totally legal” construction work. “They have also encroached on their neighbours’ land. On receiving complaints from her neighbours I went to the spot,” said Mr. Ahmed.
However, in the evening some TMC workers started demolishing the illegal construction. “When I recorded it , they said there was no need to do so. If you told us before then we would have taken down the construction earlier,” the woman said.
“For filing an RTI regarding illegal construction in the locality”
