On Thursday, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) West Bengal held the "Nabanna Chalo" (state secretariat) rally reportedly over corruption in SSC/TET and unemployment in the state. The newly-appointed BJYM President MP Tejasvi Surya led the march from Howrah demanding to increase the upper age limit for various exams and simplification of the PSC recruitment process.
However, clashes erupted between the BJP workers and police in Kolkata and adjoining Howrah as the protesting workers stormed barricades, hurled stones, and blocked roads with burning tyres while marching towards Nabanna. Meanwhile, the police were forced to use tear gas, water cannons and also resorting to lathi-charge to disperse the crowds.
Now, a video has gone viral on social media where the police are seen dragging and beating a Sikh BJP worker. During the thrashing, his turban falls off on the ground. The person has been identified as Balwinder Singh who according to BJP MP Dilip Ghosh was their "private security".
However, the video has sparked outrage on social media with even former cricketer Harbhajan Singh expressing his anger. "Plz have a look into this matter @MamataOfficial this isn’t done," he wrote on Twitter.
Meanwhile, the police have said that Balwinder Singh was carrying a loaded pistol in the rally, which is clearly seen in the unedited video. However, Ghosh defended Singh and said, "he had a license".
Besides, Kolkata Police have registered a case against several BJP leaders including national secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, national vice president Mukul Roy, Members of Parliament Locket Chatterjee, Arjun Singh, and Rakesh Singh for alleged "unlawful assembly" and "law violation".
The charges against BJP leaders and other supporters are under sections 143/147/149/332/353/283 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) read with 51(b) of Disaster Management Act and 3 of Prevention of Disruption to Public Property(PDPP) Act of IPC.
