OUR BUREAU
A young woman trying to protect her dignity was proclaimed a “pagol (lunatic)” and punched in the face by an autorickshaw driver on Wednesday, highlighting once again the rule of the rogue on the streets of Calcutta.
Puja Manhot, 30, ended up at Medical College and Hospital with bleeding lips for daring to question what most women silently face every day — unwanted male attention and brusque behaviour.
A resident of BB-50 in Salt Lake, Puja had boarded an auto at Girish Park to go to Kankurgachhi around 5.40pm. When the auto stopped near the Ganguram’s outlet to pick up an elderly passenger, the 30-year-old got off so that he could take the middle seat.
“I was standing when a passing cyclist almost grazed me, at which I asked him whether he couldn’t see me. The man replied: ‘Kuch hua to nahin (Has anything happened?)?’ Before I could say anything more, the auto driver remarked: ‘Pagol aachhe (She’s mad)’,” Puja told Metro.
Not one to take a disparaging remark lying down, Puja turned to the auto driver, Suman Dey, and questioned: “Main pagal dikhti hoon kya? (Do I look mad?).”
Dey allegedly became so furious on seeing her grab the rear-view mirror of the auto while talking to him that he punched her on the face. As a crowd gathered around the bleeding Puja, Suman left his auto by the roadside and took shelter at a police kiosk.
“The crowd followed him and demanded that the cops hand over the auto driver to them. When they refused to do so, some people smashed the glass pane of the kiosk,” a witness said.
A police team arrived a little later to take Puja and Suman to Amherst Street police station, from where she was sent to Medical College and Hospital for a check-up. Based on Puja’s complaint, driver Suman was arrested later in the evening.
Puja, pursuing an art and crafts course since being estranged from her husband, said the first thought that came to her mind after being hit by Suman was that she must not let him get away with it.
“How can the police let such things happen on Calcutta streets? He hit me just because I stood up to his verbal abuse. It could have been anybody else. I do not want to sit there crying…. I want to see him arrested,” fumed Puja, in the emergency ward of the hospital with her blood-smeared dupatta covering her lips.
Suman, a 30-year-old resident of Narkeldanga Main Road, accused Puja of “extreme provocation”.
Like everything else in Bengal these Auto Rickshaw people too were unionized.
And now they take everybody for a ride.
They are rule unto themselves.
What has happened to Puja is neither the first time nor the last.
You complain to the police, they too are unionized and will not do anything.
There is no rule of law in Bengal.
Earlier Bihar was the worst state in India. However, after Nitish Kumar took over in Bihar, things have improved there and we have been pushed to the bottom of the heap.
That says all for the Do It Now Chief Minister.
No comments:
Post a Comment