CM Says Strict Action to be Taken Against Those Who Attacked Journalists During NEET Protest Rally

Criticising attacks on journalists at a protest march over the NEET paper leak, West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday assured strictest action against the miscreants under the recently passed Goonda Act.

Making a statement in the West Bengal Assembly on the attack on reporters and photojournalists during Friday's protest rally by Left student organisations in Kolkata demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged NEET paper leak, he said that around 70 people have been identified who were present but had nothing to do with the protest.

He assured "strictest action" against the miscreants, stating that provisions of the recently passed Goonda Act have been slapped against the accused persons.

"I censure the attack on the journalist friends on behalf of the entire Assembly," the chief minister said.

Stating that the miscreants started by throwing shoes and water bottles, the chief minister said they then targeted the journalists as the police did not give in to their trap despite several efforts to escalate the situation.

"Six FIRs have been lodged under the recently-passed Goonda Act, and these have been included in the charges for these cases," the chief minister said.

He said around 70 people have been identified who are not students or CJP members and are not connected with the NEET-related protests.

The chief minister named five miscreants - Afroz of Rajabagan, Naheed of Kidderpore, Tanveer and Nizam of Ekbalpore and Rahul Jamal of Watgunje, who were allegedly involved in Friday's ruckus during the NEET protests at Esplanade.

The chief minister, who visited injured journalists at the state-run SSKM Hospital on Friday evening and spoke with them, said the kind of attack perpetrated on journalists needs to be placed before the House.

Adhikari said that under the banner of 'United Cockroach March', the rally was announced by a self-declared member of the CJP and Leftist and ultra-Left organisations participated in it.

He said that these Left student organisations include SFI, DSO, DYSA and AISF, which owe allegiance to different Left parties.

Stating that the march, with about 9,000 participants according to police estimates, was proceeding peacefully, when miscreants from certain pockets of Kolkata, including Rajabazar, Metiabruz, Kidderpore, Park Circus, Akra Fatak and Belgachia came in from behind.

Stating that the miscreants started by throwing shoes and water bottles at the police, the chief minister said they then targeted the journalists because the police did not fall into their trap to escalate the situation.

Asserting that the miscreants will receive the strictest possible punishment under the Goonda Act, the chief minister said, "Three generations of these goons will remember that.

"It is because of such activities that the Goonda Act was introduced and the Governor gave his assent to the Bill after it was passed in the House," he said, maintaining that the people of Bengal have now seen the necessity of such a law in the state.

Adhikari said that the Treasury Bench chief whip Amlan Bhaduri told him that the BJP MLAs would hold a protest against the attack in front of B R Ambedkar's statue on the Assembly campus wearing black badges to express solidarity with members of the fourth pillar of the Constitution.

He said that people have seen how thousands of water bottles, brought by the protesters at the suggestion of their leaders, were thrown at the police and the journalists at Esplanade.

"If pelting eggs is not the culture of Bengal, it cannot also be the state's culture to throw bottles and shoes at journalists," Adhikari said.

Following incidents of egg pelting at TMC leaders accused in various matters across the state, the state government created an SOP to stop such incidents.