A shocking incident of harassment that involved a former Miss India Universe, Ushoshi Sengupta, has been reported from Kolkatta and has taken social media by storm.
The incident occurred late Monday night when she and her colleagues were returning from work in an Uber. The driver was attacked by a group of motorcycle-borne young men in the heart of south Kolkata, on the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass.
The entire incident came to light after Sengupta wrote about it on her social media handle on Tuesday afternoon. Instantly the post went viral with the police springing into action and arresting the boys who were involved in the incident. The names are – Sheikh Imran Ali, Atif Khan, Sheikh Wasim, Sheikh Rahit, Sheikh Gani, Fardeen Khan and Shabir Ali.
According to her post, the incident happened around 11:40 pm, when she took an Uber from Hotel JW Marriott, Kolkata to get back home. She was accompanied by her colleagues too.
They were at the Exide crossing towards Elgin and taking a left, when a few boys on bikes (without helmets) came and hit the car. Post this, they got off and started yelling at the driver.
The issue blew up and in a fraction of seconds, there were 15 boys at the location, banging the car windows. Eventually they dragged the driver out and started to beat him.
At this stage, Sengupta stepped out and started shooting a video of the incident. She even went to the Maidan Police station, which was across the street to get help. Ironically, the policeman on duty told her that the area (across the road) was not under him but under the jurisdiction of Bhawanipore Police station. After much begging and cajoling, they agreed to come and save the driver who was incessantly getting beaten up all this while.
The officers asked the boys to stop the nuisance, after which they ran away from the scene.
According to Sengupta, this wasn’t the end of their ordeal. The boys followed them till her colleague’s house. 6 boys on 3 bikes, stopped the car yet again, threw stones and tried to drag her out for want of the phone. They wanted to delete the videos that she had shot earlier on.
It was only when she shouted for help and the locals came that they ran away.
A harrowing experience for the model and her friends. On top of it, the initial lack lustre attitude of the police only added to the trauma.
When she went to lodge a FIR at the Charu Market police station, she was told that it can only be registered at the Bhawanipore police station. The police also refused to register two complains – one of her and the other of the driver – because the issue was common.
Sengupta’s traumatic experience could happen with anyone and she has raised some pertinent questions in her social media update.
First, is the jurisdiction more important to policemen than handling the situation there and then.
Second, the audacity of 15 helmet-less boys at beating up a driver and harassing the passengers without even an iota of scare in them?
Senior Kolkata Police officials did not comment on the incident but Sengupta said many of them got in touch with her after her post went viral and the incident gained limelight.
However, on Tuesday night, the Kolkata Police tweeted, “We have taken this incident very seriously and seven persons have been arrested so far. On the order of the police commissioner, an inquiry regarding the non-registration of FIR has been initiated into the incident at a very senior level.”