Ear slashed in BJP-TMC clash in Jalpaiguri - a BJP supporter forcibly smeared colour on a TMC supporter and shouted 'Jai Shri Ram'

Trouble started when a saffron party supporter Subhas Roy forcibly smeared colour on a Trinamul supporter and shouted 'Jai Shri Ram'

BJP supporters demonstrate in front of Kotwali police station of Jalpaiguri on Tuesday

Biplab Basak

TT   |   Jalpaiguri   |   31.03.21: A BJP supporter’s ear was slashed allegedly by Trinamul supporters on Monday night in the town while the two rival parties clashed at one more location around the same time in Jalpaiguri Sadar block.

 Trouble started when BJP supporter Subhas Roy forcibly smeared colour on a Trinamul supporter and shouted “Jai Shri Ram” in Padri Kutir on the outskirts of Jalpalguri. Soon, some 100 Trinamul supporters reached the local BJP office, ransacked it and attacked Roy who was there, alleged Alok Chakraborty, a district BJP leader.

“Trinamul supporters attacked him with a sharp weapon and slashed his left ear. They also hit him in his head. He is hospital and in a critical condition,” Chakraborty said.

Police  have arrested four Trinamul supporters, and later, two of the BJP for the violence.

In another incident, supporters of both parties clashed on Monday night in Dhapganj area when BJP supporters were putting up flags. BJP supporter Rabi Roy was injured and hospitalised.

Trinamul leaders dubbed both clashes as the outcome of BJP’s internal feud. “They are falsely implicating our supporters in police cases,” Trinamul’s youth wing chief (Jalpaiguri district) Saikat Chatterjee said.

On Tuesday, BJP supporters demonstrated at Kotwali police station to demand arrests of all attackers.

Leaders of the Jalpaiguri district youth Trinamul also alleged that a BJP office-bearer molested a 10-year-old girl in Dhupguri during Holi celebrations on Monday. The accused was arrested under Pocso based on a complaint by the girl’s family. The BJP has said that the accused did not hold any post of the party.