The West Bengal police resorted to lathi-charge when rallies by BJP and leftists at Kolkata’s Jadavpur area started turning violent on Monday evening. As per reports, leftists had organised a rally as a protest against the JNU violence. The BJP supporters had also organised a rally.
As the two groups started hurling abuses and slogans at each other, the police issued lathi-charge orders to disperse the crowd. The leftists had alleged that the BJP cadre was hurling abuses at them. The leftists had also reportedly burnt the BJP flag.
A large number of students, women in the protest were lathicharged by the police.
#WATCH West Bengal: Police lathicharge on Jadavpur University students, near Sulekha Mor in Kolkata, during protest against JNU violence. pic.twitter.com/mJKV2D3gXF
— ANI (@ANI) January 6, 2020
As per reports, leftists groups in the Jadavpur University, including SFI, AISA members and others had taken out a protest rally from 8B Bus Stand to Sulekha More, protesting against the violence at JNU campus on Sunday.
The BJP supporters had also taken out a protest march from Bagha Jatin Mor to Jadavpur police station area as a protest against the ransacking of its party office in Jadavpur on Sunday night.
As per reports, the two rallies were soon joined by another rally by CPM workers, which increased the leftist support base and intensified tension in the area.
The police also lathicharged women at the rally. There are videos doing rounds on social media where the West Bengal police are seen brutally beating women in the rally.
West Bengal police beating Women protestors at Jadhavpur
You won’t find any Bollywood stars speaking against it or Barkha going to interview the victim women as ‘Shero’. pic.twitter.com/Bi7yWXnA3T
— Ankur Singh (@iAnkurSingh) January 7, 2020
It is notable here that the Delhi police and the UP police were being severely condemned by the mainstream media for issuing lathi-charge orders as retaliation to violent Muslim mobs engaged in stone-pelting, vandalism and arson during the anti-CAA protests.
As per a Times Now report, the police, after facing flak for beating women and students, have stated that they were thrashing BJP workers who were burning tyres and in the commotion had failed to differentiate between BJP workers and JU students.
Sudip Sarkar, DC (SSD) of Kolkata Police, has stated that the JU students getting beaten up was due to a misunderstanding. “We had no intention to use batons on them. There was some lathi-charge only when we were chasing the BJP workers in a bid to disperse them from the spot. During this, some students were caught up in the scene and got beaten up.”
