Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Basirhat candidate Rekha Patra, who had highlighted the plight of women in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali, has lodged a complaint with the National Commission for Women (NCW) against Trinamool Congress (TMC) nominee Debangshu Bhattacharyya for alleged violation of her privacy.
She also shot off a letter to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, alleging that Mr. Bhattacharyya, the TMC nominee from Tamluk Lok Sabha seat and head of the party's social media cell, made the details of her personal information and bank accounts public.
"Recently, through a post on Debangshu Bhattacharyya's Facebook account, the TMC candidate from Tamluk has shared the private details of my client, such as phone number, bank account details, Swasthya Sathi scheme details, as well as the Duare Sarkar scheme details, which is a clear violation of my client's right to privacy and an outrage to her modesty by making her personal details public," Ms. Patra's lawyer said in the letter.
Mr. Bhattacharya claimed that Ms. Patra had availed the State-sponsored health insurance scheme in 2021. He also shared a card used by Rekha Patra which showed she had attended a ‘Duare Sarkar’ (State government outreach programme) on March 25, 2021, to avail the benefits of 'Swasthya Sathi' and 'Lakshmir Bhandar', a financial assistance scheme for women.
Ms. Patra had on March 28 confirmed that she had enrolled for the State-sponsored schemes but countered as a citizen of West Bengal, she is entitled to avail of any State-sponsored welfare scheme.
The BJP candidate, through her counsel, urged the commissions to take immediate action against the TMC leader for "violating her right to privacy, outraging her modesty, and breaching provisions of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Protection (Prevention of Atrocities) Act".
In response to the TMC leader's post, National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson Rekha Sharma criticised the TMC government.
“Is @MamataOfficial is paying from her own pocket? That’s taxpayers money and is for every citizen of West Bengal. Is it only for @AITCofficial workers? And what do you mean by Delhi’s Jomidars? Is West Bengal not part of India? You people behave as if Momta Benarji own the State," Ms. Sharma.
TMC's Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghose responded, criticising the NCW chairperson's spelling error in mentioning Mamata Banerjee's name. “Would be good if the chief of the National Commission of Women knew how to spell the name of India’s only woman Chief Minister.", she said in her post.
Ms. Patra, through her lawyer, highlighted the political Opposition faced by her since she was nominated by the BJP. Her counsel also emphasised Ms. Patra's role in leading the protests against individuals, accused of threatening and sexually assaulting women in Sandeshkhali.
Ms. Patra, a housewife from the troubled region of Sandeshkhali and an alleged torture victim in the hands of arrested TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh and his cohorts was nominated by the BJP to contest from Basirhat Lok Sabha seat, of which Sandeshkhali is a part. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had recently referred to Ms. Patra as “shakti swaroopa”.
