Relationship history and consent
When a Supreme Court judge asks, in open court, "She went on to have a child with the man without marriage, and now she is saying rape and assault — what is this?", two things happen simultaneously.
Shubhendu Sarkar, BJP candidate from West Bengal’s Kumarganj, was on Thursday allegedly assaulted by a group of men during the first phase of voting in the state. A purported video of the incident shared by BJP leader Amit Thakur captured the alleged attack and the chaos that ensued outside a polling booth in Kumarganj.
The video shows Sarkar heading towards a polling booth with his Personal Security Officer (PSO), when a man approached him and said something in Bengali. The BJP leader initially ignored him and kept moving ahead. However, the man allegedly continued to follow Sarkar while shouting and pointing fingers at him, leading to a heated argument.
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Soon, a few more men joined the confrontation and were seen arguing with the BJP candidate. Sensing the trouble, the PSO tried to take the Sarkar away, but the men began to assault him. One of them is seen slapping the BJP leader, while another punches him.
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As the PSO tried to shield Sarkar, another person pushed them both towards a wall. The PSO somehow managed to take the BJP leader away. As they were leaving, another person coming grabbed Sarkar from the front and assaulted him. Soon, others also joined him, and they too beat the BJP leader black and blue.
https://twitter.com/Amit_Thakur_BJP/status/2047225260140023900
The incident follows another incident of violence involving BJP leader Agnimitra Paul, whose car was attacked by unknown miscreants.
Speaking to news agency UNI, Paul said that her car was attacked during her second visit to a booth in Rahmatnagar. “I had just sat down in my car, and the driver had started the engine when suddenly we got jolted by the sound of glass shattering,” Pal said.
According to her, a stone had been pelted at her car, causing the rear windscreen of the Toyota Innova to shatter immediately.
“We could not recognise those who hurled the stone, but we managed to get out of the area,” Pal said before describing the incident as a “repeat of the 2021 incident.
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