BJP’s West Bengal president Dilip Ghosh.
Police on Friday registered a sexual harassment case against state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh for his controversial remark on a woman anti-CAA protester, the previous day. After a student of Sanskrit University held aloft a ‘No CAA, No NRC’ poster at a BJP rally in south Kolkata and was heckled and her poster torn by BJP supporters, Ghosh had said: “She should thank her stars that only the poster was torn and nothing was done to her.”
The BJP MP from Medinipur, who had led the party rally from Patuli to Baghajatin area, also justified the heckling by BJP workers, saying, “Our men did the right thing… Why do they (anti-CAA protester) always come to our rallies to protest? We have tolerated enough. Now, we will not tolerate anymore.”
The student on Friday lodged a complaint at Patuli Police Station against heckling by BJP workers and against Ghosh’s statement. “BJP workers heckled me and abused me verbally. Then I heard about Dilip Ghosh’s derogatory comment… He made sexual remarks and showed murderous intent… That is why I lodged a complaint with Patuli police station. Ghosh’s comment shows why women are not safe in this country,” the student told mediapersons.
According to police sources, Ghosh has been booked under IPC sections 354 A (sexual harassment), 509 (insult to modesty of women), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 34 (common intention).
Ghosh’s comments against the woman had on Thursday triggered a verbal attack by TMC and CPM.
Senior CPM leader Shamik Lahiri condemned Ghosh’s statement and asked him to refrain from making such comments. “His comments reflect both his and his party’s sadistic and perverted mindset,” Lahiri said.
Senior Congress leader Manoj Chakraborty said Ghosh should “publicly apologise” for his statements. Ghosh known for his frequent controversial remarks had stirred up a storm at a BJP rally in Nadia on January 12 when he said that “anti-CAA protesters who destroyed public property were shot like dogs in BJP-ruled states”.
Addressing party workers at Gandhi Ghat in Barrackpore on Thursday, Ghosh said there is no place for soft people in politics. The BJP leader also advised those aspiring to be political leaders that they should go to jail by themselves if the police don’t arrest them.
“You’ll not be a leader if you don’t go to jail, if police don’t arrest you, then you must go there yourself. If they don’t give you any scope, you do something to go to jail, only then will people respect you. There is no place for soft people in politics,” he said.
Three days ago, he attacked anti-CAA and NRC sit-in protesters at Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh. He asked why none of the Shaheen Bagh protesters who are demonstrating under the open sky during winter has fallen ill or died.
“We came to know that women and children are protesting against the CAA and are sitting under the open sky during this cold winter nights in Delhi. I wonder why none of them has fallen sick. Why does nothing happen to them? Why has not a single protester died there?” he asked.