Tripura Rajya Sabha MP Jharna Das Baidya and three other senior Left women leaders were granted bail by a court in West Tripura district on Monday on a personal bond of Rs 30,000 each. Speaking with reporters, Advocate Bhaskar Debbarma, representing the accused leaders, said that last year in June, they had organised a protest, following which the police registered a case against them.
“They had physically assaulted Lipika Choudhury, following which the High Court had to intervene, and a case was lodged over the police assault. The police tried to hide their mistake by lodging a fake case against them,” Debbarma said. He also said that the leaders were booked under different sections including, 353, 332, 323, 270 and section 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The court, after the hearing, granted bail to all four leaders on payment of a bail bond of Rs 30,000 each.
“Such cases are being filed to keep everyone away from the democratic movement in the state,” Debbarma added. The Tripura State Committee of the Left Front-backed All India Democratic Women’s Association held a protest program in Agartala on June 1, 2020, demanding that the state government take important steps to stop violence against women in Tripura. Jharna Das Baidya, an MP and a woman leader was leading the program on that day. The police prevented them from organising a programme because they did take prior approval.
However, the leaders alleged that they had informed the police in advance of the program but the police did not allow them.“The ruling BJP party regularly conducts various political programs across the state, but the opposition leaders are arrested and detained for organising peaceful movement, ” Baidya said.
