Chopra case: Victims and survivors, silenced  Premium

A video of a couple being flogged at a kangaroo court in Chopra, the death by suicide of a woman after being beaten up by a similar gathering at Fulbari, and a series of mob attacks have put the focus on a culture of violence that underlies human relationships in West Bengal. Shiv Sahay Singh travels to these areas to talk to a woman paralysed by fear and the family of another, guilted into taking her own life

Trigger warning: the following article has references to violence and suicide. Please avoid reading if you feel distressed by the subjects.

“I do not know who beat me up,” Rubina (name changed to protect identity) says, irritated at a television journalist who repeatedly asks her to identify the aggressor.

The flash of the camera lights up the dark room, revealing a corrugated ceiling and red walls of a structure made of aluminium sheets. She clasps her hands and moves her feet nervously on the bed. Around her are discarded bulbs and, incongruously, new utensils. The camera light shines on her face covered with a red and grey dupatta as she faces a barrage of questions about the assault, allegedly by local Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Tajmul Islam alias JCB. The incident is said to have taken place at a kangaroo court in Chopra block, Uttar Dinajpur district, West Bengal, in the last week of June.

A viral video of the incident, running a little over a minute, showed the woman along with a man, Rafiq (name changed), being mercilessly beaten up in a market at a village in Chopra. The crowd, mostly consisting of men, gathered in a circle, watching the fracas, but not intervening to stop the violence. The woman is seen not resisting the attacks, even though she writhed in pain. The duo, allegedly in an extramarital relationship, lay helplessly on the street.

About 50 km north of Chopra is Fulbari in Jalpaiguri district. Here, on June 29, Sabita Barman, 38, allegedly took her life. She had been in a relationship with a man outside her marriage. Tapas Barman, her husband, says she was beaten up by locals who had gathered outside their home when the couple had tried to return home.

Sabita, who worked as a nursing attendant, had left home for a few days and asked her husband to come and pick her up from her parents’ place. “On our way back, locals said she cannot return home like that,” says Tapas. “Our neighbours, Swapna and her husband Barjen Adhikari, had threatened to attack and burn down our house if I allowed my wife to enter.”

Contrary to the claims by the Siliguri Police Commissionerate that “there was no incident of public assault or mob outrage”, Tapas points to the place his wife was allegedly assaulted just a few metres away from their home. Four persons, including the Adhikari couple, who are associated with the ruling TMC, have been arrested by the New Jalpaiguri police for abetment to suicide.