JOIN USSix activists belonging to the CPM and its youth wing the Students Federation of India (SFI), including two women, were arrested here on Monday for allegedly assaulting West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra outside the Planning Commission office.
Those arrested included SFI General Secretary Ritabrata Bandhopadhyay, Delhi CPM Secretary P M S Grewal, Delhi State Committee member Nathu Prasad and women activists Asha Sharma and Anju Jha.
They face charges under Section 353 (assault), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 143 and 149 (relating unlawful assembly) of Indian Penal Code. “They were arrested after analysing the video footage of the protest at Yojna Bhavan housing Planning Commission on Parliament Street on April 9,” a senior police official said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Mitra had gone to the Planning Commission office to discuss the state’s annual plan when they were gheraoed by a group of angry SFI activists protesting against the death of one of their colleagues in Kolkata.
The 65-year-old finance minister was manhandled and a woman protester thumped him twice on his chest and his kurta got torn.