Anti-CAA: FIR Lodged Against Dilip Ghosh for a Derogatory Remark

BJP supporters snatched the poster from the woman and verbally abused her.

West Bengal BJP Chief Dilip Ghosh. 

(Photo: IANS)

A day after West Bengal BJP Chief Dilip Ghosh courted yet another controversy when he said that a woman anti-CAA protester was lucky to have escaped his party's rally with just a torn poster, an FIR was lodged against him at a city police station on Friday, 31 January.

A senior police officer confirmed that a complaint has been filed against the BJP leader, and said that the matter is being looked into.

Sudeshna Dutta Gupta, a student of Sanskrit University, faced the ire of Ghosh and his partymen on Thursday, when she stood next to a BJP rally, holding aloft 'No CAA, No NRC' poster.

Gupta claimed she was heckled and verbally abused by the BJP men, who also snatched her poster and tore it.

‘Our Men Did the Right Thing’

Ghosh, who was leading the rally from Patuli to Baghajatin area, later told the media that his party supporters did the right thing.

“She should thank her stars that she was only heckled and nothing else was done to her. Why do they (protestors against the CAA) always come to our rallies to protest? They can go to other events. We have tolerated enough and won’t put up with any such nuisance again,” 

Dilip Ghosh, West Bengal BJP President

The varsity student, after filing the complaint at Patuli Police Station, alleged that Ghosh made "sexual remarks and showed murderous intent" while talking to the media.

“The women in our country are not safe. Every 22 minutes, a woman is raped in India. I am not surprised by Ghosh’s comment,” she said.

Undaunted by the Ghosh’s comment, the woman protester who is in her mid twenties, said she will continue to protest against the “fascist BJP”.

Ghosh’s Comment Drew Widespread Criticism

Senior CPI(M) leader Shamik Lahiri condemned Ghosh’s statement and asked him to refrain from making such comments.

Senior Congress leader Manoj Chakraborty said Ghosh should "publicly apologise" for his statements.

Earlier this month, too, Ghosh, the BJP MP from Midnapore seat, had stirred up a storm when he said "anti-CAA protesters who destroyed public property were shot like dogs in BJP-ruled states".

On Thursday, 30 January, he claimed that one cannot become a good political leader unless he has been jailed

The pro-CAA rally from Patuli to Bagha Jatin area in southern fringes of the city was led by Ghosh himself.