Kolkata:
A Christian woman in West Bengal's Paschim Medinipur district has alleged that a group of people associated with the Bajrang Dal assaulted and stripped her, and forcibly bathed her in front of others as part of a so-called "purification" ritual, as they sought to force her family and two other families into Hinduism during the annual festival Durga Puja.
The complainant said that the three families were threatened that they would be "burnt alive" if they went to the police on October 18. She said she called the cops, but the families were terrorised by the group over the next two days as well, and some of the family members were taken to a Durga Puja pandal in nearby village Dingal, "where we were forced to perform specific religious rituals against our will".
Police in Chandrakona finally booked at least 13 persons under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) for attempt to murder and related crimes, as per the FIR, registered on the night of October 20 on the complaint by the woman, a resident of Patlapur. No arrests were made as of 6:30 pm, October 24. NDTV reached out to Superintendent of Police Papiya Sultana for a response, but she did not reply. Opposition parties TMC (Mamata) and the Congress have demanded immediate action, though the ruling BJP was yet to respond to allegations of intentional inaction.
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'Girls Were Threatened With Rape'
The victim has alleged that a group of people associated with Bajrang Dal came to her house on October 18. "They created pressure on us to give up our faith in Lord Jesus Christ," read her complaint. She said she lost consciousness after Ranjit Dolui, one of the accused, struck her on the head and below the ear. "When I was partially conscious, I realised that my clothes had been torn off and that Ranjit Dolui, Pacha Patra and Bapi Mondal had removed my saree," the complaint, in Bengali, further read. Others named in the FIR are Dilip Mishra, Bappaditya Chatterjee, Tarun Mondal, Arun Mondal, Madan Manna, Ajit Dolui, Purnima Das, Suchitra Patar, Monimoy Mukherjee, and Mithu Dolui.
Madan Manna allegedly used sexual slurs for her 16-year-old daughter too. According to the complaint, the group said they would "get her married to a Muslim boy" and threatened to rape her. Another girl, 15, was "held by the throat...with the intention of killing her". One of the accused hit two women from the other families with a bamboo stick and took away Rs 20,000 in cash from one of the homes, as per the FIR.
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The complainant called the police after the group left on October 18, and some personnel came to the spot and heard her oral complaint, she said.
The next day, two of the men forcibly took the woman, her husband, and three others to a Durga Puja pandal in Dingal village, about a 10-minute walk from her house. "There, we were forced to perform specific religious rituals against our will," she said.
Then on the morning of October 20, Madan Manna and others allegedly came to her house and forcibly took away her husband and another man. "They threatened that if we did not give up our faith in Jesus Christ, all of us would be killed," the complaint read.
She sought police protection for the families, which has since been provided.
Congress, Mamata Banerjee's TMC Demand Action
Congress leader KC Venugopal on Saturday wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah urging him to immediately arrest those accused of assaulting the three Christian families and allegedly forcing them to renounce their faith in West Bengal's Paschim Medinipur district.
Trinamool Congress (Mamata) MP Sagarika Ghose said the party's "fact-finding team" had travelled across Bengal and found that "Christians are being threatened and attacked if they don't 'return' to Hinduism". She further alleged that Christians are being denied burial rights and civic rights. "Christian congregations are being intimidated by loud music just outside mass or prayer meetings, and churches are being vandalised by mobs," she further said in a post on X.