A man was assaulted by four persons in a moving train in West Bengal, on failing to reply to their questions, the police said on Friday, 25 May.
The victim, a migrant labourer, was on his way to Kaliachak in Malda district from Howrah on 14 May, when the four persons got into the train and sat next to his seat, a police officer said.
A video showing the man being repeatedly questioned on the Prime Minister of India and the chief minister of West Bengal and being subjected to verbal abuse as well as physical assault, surfaced on social media last week.
The four men ask the young man about Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the national anthem and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the police officer said, adding that the man was roughed up when he could not reply to the queries.
While the man repeatedly says that he isn’t educated, the four accused keep saying that education is not necessary to answer the questions thrown at him just as education was not necessary to offer namaaz. The group later alighted at Bandel station.
A local NGO – Bangla Sankriti Mancha – lodged an FIR on Friday against the accused, based on videos taken by co-passengers, Kaliachak Police Station Inspector-in-Charge Suman Chatterjee said.
An investigation into the matter is underway, Chatterjee said.
(With inputs from PTI)
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