RG Kar victim’s mother alleges police assault during Nabanna march

On the first anniversary of her daughter’s rape and murder, the RG Kar victim’s mother alleged police manhandled her during a Nabanna protest march in Kolkata. Police denied the claims, but tensions flared as leaders traded political accusations

Kolkata: The mother of the RG Kar victim on Saturday alleged that she was roughed up by women police personnel during a march to West Bengal state secretariat ‘Nabanna’, called to mark one year of the rape and murder of her daughter at the state-run hospital.

The assault allegedly took place when Kolkata Police baton-charged protesters at the Park Street crossing in the central part of the city to disperse the crowd, which was trying to breach police barricades and move towards Vidyasagar Setu in their bid to reach the secretariat.

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“The police shoved me and pinned me to the ground. They broke my ‘shankha’ (traditional conch shell bangle) and I sustained injury on my forehead,” the victim’s mother alleged. She claimed that four to five police personnel manhandled her during the scuffle between police and protesters.

The police, though, denied having used any force on the parents of the victim. “We have no information about the victim’s parents getting beaten up by the police at the Park Street crossing. Police did not do anything to the parents at this point. But their allegations will be duly investigated,” DC (Port), Harikrishna Pai told reporters. Undaunted by the police’s resistance, both parents of the RG Kar victim walked all the way up to Hastings at the foot of the Vidyasagar Setu, where they were again stopped by a police barricade.

“Why are they stopping us like this? All we want is to reach Nabanna and seek justice for my daughter,” the victim’s mother said. The rally participants demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for “failing to protect women”.

“Police tried to block us by putting up barricades. Why are you so inhuman? Why are you scared of us? We are unarmed,” the mother said, asserting she wouldn’t stop until she met the chief minister for justice for her daughter.

She was later moved to a private hospital to tend to her injuries.”The police could not save my daughter or bring her justice, but they didn’t think twice about beating up women and elderly persons,” she said.

The RG Kar victim’s father also alleged that the police tried to prevent the family from reaching Dorina Crossing to join the march, despite court permission for a peaceful rally.

“The police were following us from the time we left our home. At the Sinthi crossing, when we entered Kolkata Police jurisdiction, police passed on information about our vehicle to the forward posts in the city so that we could be stopped. We had to play a cat and mouse game with the police to reach the Dorina Crossing assembly point in central Kolkata,” the victim’s father alleged.

“They have been harassing the protesters and have tried every means at their disposal to stop the agitators from conducting their march from Esplanade,” he added.

Police lathi-charged protesters at the Park Street crossing after agitators tried to break through the barricades after ignoring police warnings not to move beyond the Rani Rashmoni Road assembly point.

Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, along with BJP leader Agnimitra Paul and other party MLAs, staged a sit-in at the Park Street-J L Nehru Road crossing, while alleging that more than 100 protesters, including Adhikari and other BJP leaders, were injured in police action.

Tight security arrangements were made along the route, with protesters scuffling with the police at Santragachi in Howrah district. Debanshu Bhattacharya, Trinamool Congress social media cell chief, blamed the “BJP’s narrow and dirty politics” for the ruckus on the streets of Kolkata.

“This is exactly what the BJP wanted, to create chaos on the streets and, when police responds, get the victim’s parents involved in it. I feel sorry for the victim’s parents who were trapped in the narrow and dirty politics of the BJP,” he said.

State minister Sashi Panja alleged that the BJP tried to intimidate citizens and create division in society on the day of Raksha Bandhan.

“Today is the day when Rabindranath Tagore tied a Rakhi as a symbol of peace and communal harmony. However, BJP has shown no respect for Bengal’s traditions and are attempting to disrupt law and order while people celebrate the sacred bond of brotherhood and sisterhood,” she said.