Poet files case after ‘gangrape threats’ on Facebook

Kolkata: After Srijato Bandopadhyay, another Bengali poet Mandakranta Sen, became the target of intolerance as she received a threat of gangrape on Facebook for supporting Srijato’s poem which had triggered controversy recently. She has lodged a complaint with the cyber police station of the detective department of the Kolkata police at Lalbazar.

On March 25, evening, Mandakranta posted a comment on her Facebook wall where she spoke about an apolitical rally organised by her and others on that day to offer support to Srijato in wake of the controversy over his poem.

She wrote that a group of people however “over enthusiastically or intentionally” tried to add political colour to the event prompting many others, who were not associated with politics, to leave in disgust.

Mandakranta added that the event was successful. Reacting to this, Raja Das, a Facebook user, commented on her post threatening her of gangrape. On Wednesday, Mandakranta said, “Religious fanaticism has gripped some people in the state. There is a political motive behind it.” Expressing his shock over the threat to her, Srijato said, “It’s an incident which should be condemned. I expect the administration to take action into it.”

Joint commissioner of police (crime) Vishal Garg said, “Ms Sen has lodged a complaint of obscene comments on her Facebook profile. A case has been initiated. It is being investigated at the cyber police station.” The police is now trying to trace the Facebook account of the accused user.