West Bengal: Notice after BJP's video enacting rape goes viral

Kolkata, July 13: The battle of state assembly elections scheduled for 2021 between the BJP and TMC in West Bengal has taken a new low after a short poll campaign film made by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) shows theatrical enactment of an alleged rape.

The West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights has on Monday sought a report from the Kolkata Police on the same.

Also, the information technology cell of the detective department has started a probe, said joint commissioner of police (crime) Murlidhar Sharma.

On July 9 and 10, BJP's official Twitter handle has posted three films of less than a minute long and show crime against women.

One of these films portrays two minor children and the film claims that the mother of the minors was raped and slashed with a broken bottle in Birbhum district. The video deliver a messege that people of the state will no longer tolerate crime against women.

The videos in question have still not been taken down from the party's Twitter handle.

According to a report published in Hindustan Times, The commission, which is under the state women and child development and social welfare department, has written to Kolkata police commissioner Anuj Sharma that using minor children in such scenes is punishable under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and it also violates Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act. The commission has sought a report from the Kolkata Police.

BJP state general secretary Sayantan Basu said his party is not bothered by what the commission says.

"It (the commission) has no credibility. People who head these bodies owe their allegiance entirely to ruling party leaders. They will do anything that they are asked to. We are neither worried nor bothered," said Basu.

Meanwhile, BJP on Monday has called for action against the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress over the death of one of its MLAs, Debendra Nath Ray from Hemtabad, a reserved seat, in Uttar Dinajpur.

However, BJP West Bengal claimed that he was "killed and then hung. The body was found hanging like this in Bindal, near his village home. People are of the clear opinion that he was first killed and then hung. His crime? He joined the BJP in 2019," BJP Bengal's tweet read.