Cabby harasses actor-MP Mimi Chakraborty on Kolkata road, arrested

KOLKATA: A taxi driver has been arrested for allegedly making lewd comments and gestures at actor and Trinamool MP Mimi Chakraborty in the heart of south Kolkata on Monday afternoon.
Chakraborty was returning home in her car, driven by her chauffeur. She was on the stretch between Ballygunge Phanri and Gariahat around 1pm, when she first spotted the taxi driver, possibly drunk, winking at her.
The actor, who represents Jadavpur at the Lok Sabha, initially ignored it. But when he made another gesture, she asked her chauffeur to overtake the taxi and forced it to a stop. She then stepped out of the car and confronted the cabby, later identified as Laxman Yadav alias Deba Yadav, 32, a resident of Anandapur, off EM Bypass.
“Had I ignored it, some other woman would have been harassed if she took that taxi,” said Chakraborty, whose name TOI is publishing with her consent. “I saw the taxi driver making lewd gestures at me. I thought it was an unintentional mannerism (mudradosh), and ignored it. Then he overtook my car and repeated the gesture. This time, his actions were even more vulgar.... I chased the taxi and got out. I felt he was drinking and driving; I could not let him go.”
She found support from passers-by. “I had to leave as a traffic disruption was happening,” Chakraborty said. The actor alerted a traffic sergeant and lodged an FIR at Gariahat PS against Yadav, who was immediately arrested.
A city court has remanded Yadav in police custody till September 20. Chakraborty is expected to give a statement before a judicial magistrate on September 18.
“I was confident that the administration wouldn’t let him go scot-free,” said Chakraborty. “Thanks to Kolkata Police, he is now in custody.” She also had a message to women who find themselves in such a situation: “We should all speak up and protest; otherwise, these people will think they can get away with anything.”
Police sources said Yadav had first winked at the actor just after crossing the Ballygunge Phanri traffic lights. “He then deliberately kept following her. The accused then overtook her car and made vulgar gestures. The MP’s driver alerted a south-east traffic guard sergeant, who, in turn, informed the police station,” said an officer.
Yadav has been booked under IPC sections related to stalking, harassment, and using words and gestures intended to outrage a woman’s modesty. “The arrested driver has been booked under various penal sections,” said DCP (SED) Debasmita Das.
Preliminary questioning so far indicates that Yadav did not recognise the actor-MP.