West Bengal police on Monday, 3 June, denied that an incident — where a BJP supporter and his family in the state’s Purulia district was reportedly thrashed by alleged Trinamool Congress supporters — happened because of political reasons, saying that the matter has been “twisted and given political colour”.
WHAT REPORTS SAID
According to a media report online, Balram Mahato, a BJP supporter who was previously a TMC worker, was attacked on Sunday, along with his wife and son, by a TMC supporter, identified as Mator Gorain. The attack reportedly took place in West Bengal’s Kenda, Purulia after Mahato lent his vehicle to BJP for a victory procession in the village.
The report said that Mahato had provided his vehicle for carrying the purpose of carrying a sound system during the rally in the village on Sunday. In a video, Mahato claims that he was beaten for his action, which irked Gorain, a local TMC worker. He also alleged that Gorain had hit him with an iron road, not even sparing his wife and his younger son.
Balram Mahato in hospital.
(Photo Courtesy: Anil Giri)
WHAT POLICE SAID
However, speaking to The Quint, SI Gopika Sundar Dutta of the Kenda police station said that the matter was being misreported and given political colour where there was none. “This is a personal disagreement between them that has been happening for a long time and now it is being twisted,” Dutta said.
He said that the two men had long had personal differences over issues such as Mahato’s goat straying into Gorain’s farmland and that they had previously had arguments over it.
He added that Mahato and Gorain were BJP and TMC supporters respectively, but their political affiliations had nothing to do with the incident.
Dutta told The Quint that he could not confirm whether Mahato had in fact lent his vehicle to the procession, although he said that Mahato did have a car. He said that on Sunday, after the rally, Gorain had gone to Mahato’s home to tell him about the problem with the goat again, while Mahato was inebriated from having consumed alcohol during the victory procession.
An argument then ensued between the two men, which resulted in them beating each other, not just Mahato being attacked, as reports claimed. According to Dutta, Mahato’s wife was also involved in the fight, in which Gorain’s 85-year-old mother and 95-year-old father were also beaten up by the Mahato family. Dutta said that everyone involved sustained injuries and that both Mahato and Gorain came to the Kenda police station on Sunday evening bearing injuries from the fight.
He also added that while an FIR had not yet been filed, the process would be completed by Monday evening.
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