The genie of horrific violence that broke out after the results of the 2021 assembly elections in West Bengal has once again come out. Two stalwarts and well-known actors of Bengali cinema—Parambrata Chatterjee and Swastika Mukherjee—are in legal trouble over a five-year-old social media post. A complaint has been lodged against both the artists at Gariahat Police Station in Kolkata on charges of inciting riots and violence. The complainant named Jaideep Sen has demanded the police to register a formal FIR against both the celebrities. The allegation is that through his statements, he fueled and instigated large-scale post-poll violence across the state in May 2021.He is accused of abetting and instigating the large-scale post-election violence that broke out in West Bengal in May 2020. According to the complaint filed on May 21, the case pertains to a post made on social media on May 2, 2021 — the day the Bengal Assembly election results were declared.
The complaint refers to a tweet by Parambrata Chatterjee around 4 pm that day, which read in Bengali: “Let today be declared World ‘Rogorani’ (evil-doing) beating day!”. Actress Swastika Mukherjee reportedly replied to this tweet with an emoji, writing, “Hahahaha hok hok” (“Let it be”).
The complainant argued that these statements made by influential public figures, prima facie, appear to “promote, encourage, incite and incite violence on a large scale” at an extremely sensitive time — a time when reports of attacks on BJP workers were already emerging.
“A complaint has already been filed against Parambrata Chatterjee and Swastika Mukherjee under section 107 of the Indian Penal Code. Their comments had instigated the killings of BJP workers, rape and molestation of women BJP workers, and violence allegedly by Trinamool Congress in 2021,” the complainant said.
The complaint also links the timing of these conversations on social media to the violence that followed in the real world. It reported that about an hour after the tweet, BJP worker Abhijit Sarkar of Belighata was allegedly murdered; This is a case in which the accused have already been sentenced.
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Further, the complaint also alleges that from the late evening of May 2, 2021, large-scale organized violence broke out against BJP workers across West Bengal. This resulted in incidents of murders, assaults, sexual violence, arson and extortion — incidents which the Calcutta High Court later took cognizance of. The violence following the 2021 assembly elections in the state sparked a major political controversy and led to several investigations. The investigations began after allegations of attacks, intimidation and displacement of people in several districts following the declaration of election results.
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According to Election Commission data, these elections were held in eight phases between March 27 and April 29 and an average voter turnout of 82 percent was recorded. Violence intensified during the voting and continued after the results were announced on 2 May.The highest number of violent incidents were recorded in April during the elections, including 123 incidents and 19 deaths. 88 violent incidents and 31 deaths were recorded in May.
A large part of the violence in May was retaliatory and targeted opposition supporters following the Trinamool Congress’s landslide victory. The 2021 post-election violence remained a focus of political controversy due to the allegations and the numerous investigations that followed.
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