An incident of assault on students from Bihar in West Bengal's Siliguri has sparked widespread controversy. Amid this, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union Minister Giriraj Singh and Union Minister Chirag Paswan have demanded action. Meanwhile, the BJP also intensified its attack on the Mamata Banerjee-led state government over the atrocities on students, while the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has dismissed the incident as a "local matter." Amid growing outrage, West Bengal Police have arrested two accused persons in connection with the assault. The accused have been identified as Rajat Bhattacharya and Giridhari Roy - residents of Siliguri, police said.
What is the case?
The assault occurred in Siliguri, where a local gang targeted students from Bihar who were there to take the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) General Duty examination. According to reports, Ankit Yadav from Bihar's Danapur and one of his companions were sleeping in a room when some men barged in. They forcibly woke the students up, began questioning them, and labelled them as "outsiders." Claiming to be Bengal police officers, they also demanded to see the students' documents while others identified themselves as Intelligence Bureau (IB) personnel and continued threatening them.
Video goes viral
The students repeatedly tried to explain that they would leave Siliguri after their exams, but the assailants forced them to perform squats as punishment. After a prolonged period of harassment, the students eventually broke down and fell at the attackers' feet to apologise, however, this did not deter the perpetrators. As per the information, the gang not only assaulted and abused the students but also recorded the incident and uploaded the video on social media. The video quickly went viral, leading to outrage both in Bengal and Bihar.
Accused arrested
Following a complaint from Bihar Police, Siliguri Police arrested both accused. One of them, Rajat Bhattacharya, is a member of the Bangla Paksha organisation. Notably, Bangla Paksha had previously campaigned to erase Hindi signboards in West Bengal. Bhattacharya has claimed that students from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are arriving with "fake certificates" for the SSC exams and are taking jobs meant for local residents. Meanwhile, Police are currently interrogating him at the Siliguri station.
TMC leader's reaction
It should be noted here that the video of the incident has stirred political tension. Giriraj Singh has blamed Mamata Banerjee for the incident, while TMC has refuted the accusations. TMC leader Kunal Ghosh stated that every citizen of the country is welcome in West Bengal and there is no opposition to anyone. He further said West Bengal believes in the democratic rights of every citizen of the country and will never allow harassment of anyone. Ghosh said that though there have been reports of migrant labourers from West Bengal facing harassment and even being lynched in BJP-ruled states, neither the TMC nor the state government ever played up the issue apart from lodging protests as "we believe India belongs to every citizen who can go anywhere in the country".
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