Student who heckled Supriyo alleges attack by ABVP members
Kolkata: Debanjan Ballav, a college student who had allegedly heckled Union Minister Babul Supriyo at the Jadavpur university campus last month, has filed a police complaint claiming he was beaten up by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists at a bus stand near Burdwan in West Bengal.
An officer of Burdwan Sadar police station in East Burdwan district said on Thursday: “some arrests have been made” based on Ballav’s complaint.
“He has complained that some people beat him up at the bus stand when he was coming home from Kolkata,” the officer told IANS over phone.
Ballav, a student of Sanskrit College in Kolkata, is a resident of Raina, a village 35 km from the Burdwan town.
“Yes, he has named ABVP in the complaint. A case has been started based on the complaint. A few arrests have been made,” he said.
The ABVP has rubbished Ballav’s allegation and called it a cheap effort to get “publicity”.
Ballav was seen purportedly pulling Supriyo’s hair during the Jadavpur University disturbances on September 19.
The next day, Supriyo tweeted Ballav’s photograph and posted: “This is the guy who led the assault in #JadavpurUniversity .. we will find him out and then see what @MamataOfficial does to him in terms of charging him for assault without any provocation whatsoever from our/my side”.
The student’s ailing mother Rupali Ballav had then, told Supriyo in a viral video that she has brought her son up after much hardships and appealed to the minister not to harm him.
“I want to tell Babul da that I have brought him up after much hardship. Please don’t harm him,” she was seen pleading with folded hands in the video.
In reply, Supriyo addressed her as aunty, and told her not to worry.
“Aunty, don’t worry. I won’t harm your son. I want him to learn from his mistake.”
On September 19, the university plunged into unprecedented lawlessness with state governor Jagdeep Dhankhar rushing in with a large police force after Supriyo was heckled, slapped and detained for hours by pro-left students.
Supriyo had gone to the JU campus to attend a freshers’ welcome and address a seminar organised by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad.
Around 7 PM, the governor reached the campus, and left with Supriyo in his car.