A primary school teacher was harassed by a Panchayat leader with her hands and feet tied in South Dinajpur district. The video of the incident was later released on social media which created an uproar, leading to the Panchayat leader Amal Sarkar being suspended. Sarkar was also suspended from the Trinamool Congress party after the incident.
The video shows men threatening Das before tying her feet with ropes and dragging on the road. Her hands were also tied. The men are seen threatening her all the while in broad daylight as villagers look on.
Das had protested against construction of a road, since a part of the road was passing over the land she owned. She had raised her voice which led to her being heckled and dragged on the streets by Sarkar and his men. Das was later rescued by local villagers.
Police initially did not want to lodge a complaint against the accused Panchayat leader. Instead they were accusing her of high handedness for protesting against giving up her land for the construction of the road. After the incident, the video went viral which created outrage amongst people, prompting TMC to take action against the accused. An FIR was lodged against Sarkar under the Gangaram Police station.
There have been incidents of TMC men using muscle power to harass villagers in rural and urban localities too. With such incidents coming to light, the TMC is not taking any chances considering the Assembly elections in West Bengal are in 2021 and the party is trying to clean up it’s image to retain a third term in the State and keep the BJP away. The BJP has made inroads into West Bengal after gaining ground in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
