Minister sparks row with 'minor incident' remark; later says didn't mean college gang-rape case

Kolkata: A remark by West Bengal Irrigation Minister Manas Bhunia referring to "minor incidents" sparked a political storm on Tuesday amid an uproar over the alleged gang rape of a student inside her college in Kolkata.

Following Bhunia's comment, the opposition accused the ruling TMC of being insensitive and trivialising the crime.

Bhunia, who was addressing a doctors’ conference in Kolkata recently, said in his speech, “In Bengal, even a minor incident leads to a huge outcry.” The minister, however, later clarified that his remarks were "misconstrued" and "misquoted".

A video clip containing his statement quickly went viral and was picked up by sections of the media, prompting a flurry of criticism from the opposition BJP and others who linked the remark to the gang rape of the first-year student inside South Calcutta Law College on June 25.

However, PTI couldn’t independently verify the authenticity of the video.

Bhunia had said, “A minor incident happened, and there is a lot of commotion around it. Has the chief minister ever suppressed any incident? During the RG Kar hospital episode, even the CBI could not proceed further after a police investigation, that’s how active she was.”

The law college incident brought back horrific memories of the rape and murder of an on-duty intern last year.

The minister's comment drew sharp criticism from political opponents who alleged that the ruling party and its leaders were attempting to downplay the seriousness of the gang-rape.

Faced with mounting backlash, Bhunia convened an emergency press conference on Tuesday evening, denying that his “minor incident” remark was in any way connected to the incident in the law college situated in Kasba area of south Kolkata.

“I never referred to the Kasba incident. Those drawing such connections are doing so with malicious intent. My comments were solely about challenges in the healthcare sector. I strongly condemn the Kasba incident. I never support or justify wrongdoing,” he said.

Clarifying his “everything is minor” response to reporters, Bhunia said he had replied in general terms, but it was “deliberately” misconstrued and juxtaposed with the gangrape case to malign him.

“If this continues, I will be compelled to pursue legal action to protect my reputation,” the senior TMC leader warned.

Despite his clarification, the political heat refused to die down. The BJP said this was not the first time a TMC leader had made a controversial statement in the wake of the Kasba case.

BJP leader Samik Bhattacharya said, “Manas Bhunia has only echoed his party’s view. This is how the TMC perceives society and crimes against women. His statement reflects the true character of the ruling dispensation.”

Adding to the embarrassment for the ruling party, the prime accused in the gang rape case, Monojit Mishra, is a former student and temporary staffer at the law college, reportedly with past associations to the TMC, though the party has denied any links.

The South Calcutta Law College has since terminated Monojit's services and expelled the two other accused students, Zaib Ahmed and Pramit Mukherjee.

The opposition has claimed that the string of controversial statements from TMC leaders shows the government's lack of seriousness in handling crimes against women.

However, the TMC leadership has maintained that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has always taken swift action in such matters.

According to Bhunia, his intention was to highlight the government’s proactive role in strengthening health infrastructure and the CM's prompt interventions.

“Unfortunately, my words have been selectively quoted to serve a different narrative,” he asserted.