Kolkata: Bengali actor Payel Mukherjee said she was allegedly heckled by a motorcyclist while driving her car on Friday night on a city road.
A sobbing Payel in a video on Facebook said that a youth stopped his two-wheeler before her SUV on Southern Avenue and asked her to come out of the vehicle. "As I refused to come out fearing for my safety, the man banged against the glass on my right side window and broke it into pieces injuring my hand," she said.
Local people came to her rescue and police detained the man following a complaint lodged by Payel. The man claimed Payel's car grazed past his bike but he apologised to the police for the incident. The actor denied something like that happened.
"I don't know where we stand now. If a woman can be accosted and heckled in such a way in a crowded street in the evening that exemplifies the real situation. And this happens amid rallies taken out all over the city on the issue of women's safety," Payel, who is also a known face in the south film industry, said in the video in Bangla.
"I shudder to think what would have happened to me had this incident taken place in a deserted spot," a visibly shaken Payel added, crying. The incident happened as the city witnessed spontaneous protests for the last 10 days against the rape-murder of a postgraduate medical trainee at state-run R G Kar Hospital.
BJP shared the actor's video on X and slammed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the lack of safety for women in the state.
Now Bengali actress Payel Mukherjee goes live fearing for her life while being abused and attacked by a bike born assailant right in Kolkata's Southern Avenue.
— BJP West Bengal (@BJP4Bengal) August 23, 2024
Wonder what State Home Minister Mamata Banerjee has just reduced Kolkata to a nightmare for women. And her adviser… pic.twitter.com/ZO5nBS4Rpf
"Now Bengali actress Payel Mukherjee goes live fearing for her life while being abused and attacked by a bike born assailant right in Kolkata's Southern Avenue. Wonder what State Home Minister Mamata Banerjee has just reduced Kolkata to a nightmare for women. And her adviser asking women to stay away from night duties," BJP West Bengal said in the post.
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