A shocking case of a woman Panchayat election candidate being stripped, assaulted, paraded naked and molested in West Bengal by TMC workers has been reported by Dainik Jagran.

The incident is said to be from July 8, the day of polling for the just-concluded Panchayat elections which claimed over 50 lives due to the ruthless political violence that has become entrenched in Bengal.

The woman candidate has alleged that TMC workers forced her to walk naked in the entire village in Panchla area of Howrah district after stripping her clothes. Panchla is just 24 km from Nabanna, the office of WB CM Mamata Banerjee.

An FIR has been lodged in Panchla police station, reports Dainik Jagran. In the complaint the woman said that she was assaulted by around 40 TMC goons, who clubbed her on the head and chest and threw her out of the polling station.

They then allegedly tore her saree, pulled off her inner wear, before parading her naked. They also molested her in public. TMC candidate Hemanta Roy, and TMC workers Noor Alam, Alfi Sheikh, Ranbir Panja, Sanju Das, Sukamal Panjay and others have been named in the FIR.

BJP leader Amit Malviya has claimed that police was reluctant to lodge the FIR, and only lodged it when BJP workers protested.

Such sexual violence and humiliation of Opposition party workers has become par for the course in Bengal. There have been several cases of women, including those from the most marginalized sections like SC/ST, being made to grovel for the ‘crime of joining BJP’, or forced to do sit-ups in front of her minor daughter.

But the worst cases were reported during the 2021 post-poll pogrom, where a staggering 7000 women were molested/raped in just the initial few weeks as per a fact-finding team headed by a retired HC Chief Justice, after violence broke out across West Bengal following TMC’s victory announced on May 2, 2021.

Here is a sample of what activists and few alternative media outlets reported back then, but went largely uncovered by mainstream media –

• “We want Hindu girls, they said. The police are with them”: Victim who was gang-raped by TMC goons in front of her father
• A 60-year-old woman was gang-raped in front of her six-year-old grandson, while her daughter-in-law was beaten up. Police initially refused to register an FIR.
• A group of four men gangraped a minor girl (17), daughter of a Hindu BJP supporter. She was dragged into a nearby jungle, where they raped her one by one for more than an hour. The girl was later pressured to take back the FIR and local TMC leaders threatened her family. She was sent to a child welfare home, and wasn’t allowed to meet her family. She claimed that she was “attacked and gang raped solely for her family’s political affiliations and religious beliefs”.
• Gosaba and Basanti, South 24 parganas district: JCB (bulldozers) are being used to demolish houses, with full knowledge of local administration. In parts of the district where women are being raped and molested or houses burnt, no ambulances are being allowed due to which there is no official record in hospitals. This is how they are ensuring that officially, these crimes simply don’t exist.
• Haroa, Basirhat, North 24 Parganas district: A BJP Mahila Morcha worker was stripped naked publicly, TMC goons then pissed on her palms and made her lick it.
• Bowali, South 24 Parganas: 6 girls, relatives of BJP workers, were forced to strip naked and dance to the ‘Khela Hobe’ (TMC’s election campaign song, which means ‘Game On’) song.
• Canning West AC (Assembly Constituency), South 24 Parganas district: A 14 year-old girl standing outside her house was attacked. Her nightie was torn with a blade, and once nude she was molested and a video shot. The goons said they are saving the video for ‘future use’.

In a complete travesty of justice, the center and higher judiciary failed to intervene in a timely fashion and most cases of sexual assault went unreported due to fear of backlash and lack of trust in police. Still, due to the diligence of few activists and BJP leaders like Priyanka Tibrewal, CBI was finally tasked with probing several dozen most-serious cases of sexual assault.