Malda Video: TMC says women were caught stealing; BJP, CPI-M blame state govt's lawlessness

A video showing a mob beating two half-naked tribal women was shared on the social media. TMC said the women were on the receiving end as they were caught stealing. BJP condemned the chief minister for not taking any action.

Kolkata: Hours after a video surfaced of two tribal women allegedly striped naked and beaten up in Malda, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) said they they were caught stealing while Opposition BJP and CPI-M blamed it on the Mamata Banerjee-led government's lawlessness.

The incident allegedly took place at Pakua Haat at Bamangola in Malda on July 19. Five tribal women who had come from Manikchak to sell their wares at the weekly market were caught stealing. Three of them managed to escape but two were caught by the local women and were beaten up. Earlier, a video of the incident showing a mob beating two half-naked women was shared on the social media.

Addressing a press conference in Kolkata, senior TMC leader and state women and child development minister Sashi Panja said that the two tribal women were beaten up by many other women after they were spotted stealing. "All of them are poor. The two women were disrobed to some extent. But, there is absolutely no point in politicising the incident. It was a case of theft and the group of women tried to take law and order in their hands and started beating them. The police tried to stop them but got overpowered by the group. A case has been registered and police are investigating it," Panja said.

Condemning the incident, BJP's IT cell head Amit Malviya tweeted, "...it had all the markings of a tragedy that should have broken Mamata Banerjee's heart and she instead of merely outraging, could have acted, since she is also the home minister of Bengal...". He said that the chief minister neither condemned the barbarity nor expressed pain because it would then have exposed her failure as an administrator. But, she shed tears a day later as it was politically expedient, he added.

The CPI-M said that the incident shows the state government's lawlessness. CPI-M leader Brinda Karat said it would be incorrect to compare what happened in Malda with that of Manipur. "All atrocities against women are condemnable. Two Adivasi women are seen getting beaten up by other Adivasi women and it is condemnable. The incident is an example of the lawlessness of West Bengal government. But, the efforts made to lighten the brutality of the Manipur incident along with the failure of the government are equally condemnable," Karat said.