The West Bengal government has started an investigation against the Alipurduar district magistrate Nikhil Nirmal after a video – showing the DM and his wife slapping, kicking and beating up a young man – surfaced and had gone viral. The DM has been asked to go on a 10-day leave.
The young man, Binod Kumar Sarkar, had been brought to the Falakata police station after he had allegedly made some offensive comments on social media about the DM’s wife. The DM and his wife had beaten up Sarkar in the presence of the inspector in charge of the police station, and the entire episode was recorded, which later became viral.
In the disturbing footage – which lasts for close to six minutes – the DM and his wife are repeatedly asking Sarkar what he had written on social media and why, as they go on slapping and kicking him. Sarkar is seen as seeking forgiveness and he is being slapped and kicked both by the DM and his wife, as others in the office look on. Eventually, a man in khaki uniform is seen taking the young man away, asking the DM’s wife to submit a complaint.
The DM’s wife Nandini Krishnan, meanwhile, in a Facebook post has “admitted” to slapping and kicking the man, and added that had it been anyone else, they would have “killed” the man.
She wrote that it’s all right even if he is removed from the job, but a “family man” should not be disturbed. “When my husband married me, he said ‘I will take care of you, protect you, will stand for you’, and he did,” Nandini Krishnan wrote. She wrote that she was proud of him and that he was a “real hero”.
According to Binod Kumar Sarkar’s father Rajmohan Sarkar, “if my son has made any mistake, he should be punished. But for that, there are laws, there is the court and legal system. An officer and his wife cannot take the law in their hands and beat up a person.” There are demands from the opposition CPI(M) and the BJP to take stern action against the DM for using his power to beat up a person.
Meanwhile, the DM’s wife has also shared a “poster” in support of her husband that reads: “We support DM Alipurduar”. It reads: “When First Lady herself is being targeted with malicious comment on social media; how safe are our mothers and sisters of Alipurduar?”
Various individuals, political parties and organisations have submitted letters before the district police superintendent and the chief minister Mamata Banerjee, seeking punishment for the DM.
