Trinamul Councillor and Party Member Arrested for Allegedly Assaulting Citizen Volunteer

A Kalyani municipality councillor for the Trinamul Congress and a party member were taken into custody on Friday after they reportedly attacked a citizen volunteer for halting her SUV at an NH12 detour in Ranaghat.

Before a police squad hurried in and captured the suspected assaulter, enraged residents seized the politicians, their assistants, and the vehicle.

Later in the afternoon, youth leader Ranjit Das and councillor Laxmi Oraon, 49, who represents Kalyani's ward 8, appeared before the extra chief judicial magistrate's court in Ranaghat and were given bail. At the time of the occurrence, the councillor from Trinamul and her friends were traveling to Krishnagar for a party gathering.

The two have been charged with criminal intimidation, unlawful restraint, and intentionally inflicting harm.

"We have started a case against the offenders," Ranaghat Kumar Sunny Raj, the superintendent of police, said. Both the main accused and her partner have been taken into custody. We are investigating every angle.

As the councillor's SUV was stopped by community volunteer Nabakumar Mullick on NH12 close to the Begopara Roman Catholic church gate, unrest reportedly broke out at 2:00 pm, according to sources.

"The area is witnessing continuous traffic snarls for the past few months due to the ongoing widening of NH12," a police official said. There is a railroad overbridge being built. As a consequence, the police had to install a traffic detour to allow for simple vehicle passing.

However, the council member in the SUV disregarded the warning and went into the incorrect lane, which prompted the volunteer from the community to stop the vehicle. The council member and her assistants were enraged by this and began verbally abusing the community volunteer before beating him. The councilwoman and her assistants were also apprehended by the citizens, who then turned them over to the police, the officer stated, saving him.

Oraon claimed, "My automobile was halted by a civic volunteer who verbally attacked me and my assistants. I am prepared to face the law and I have complete trust in the legal system. We merely lifted our hands to defend ourselves from the volunteer citizen. For the previous fifteen years, I have served as a council member, and I have never engaged in any illegal behavior.

Debasish Ganguly, the head of the Ranaghat district committee for Trinamul, expressed his anguish after learning about the tragedy. Laxmidi is a very conscientious leader. I'm not sure what motivated her to behave in that manner. However, one must realize that no one is above the law.

A group of community volunteers were enraged upon learning that the two had been granted bail, claiming that the police had given themselves over to the ruling party.

"This is very regrettable. The leaders of the governing party constantly humiliate us and never follow traffic laws. Public outcry made today's arrest inevitable. However, our elders made sure that lesser charges were levied against the two so they could be granted bail when their political identities were made public, according to a Ranaghat civic volunteer.