Bengali poet Mandakranta Sen alleges gang-rape threat

Kolkata, March 29: Noted Bengali poet Mandakranta Sen, who had expressed solidarity with counterpart Srijato who was embroiled in a controversy over a poem that allegedly hurt Hindu religious sentiments, on Wednesday said she was threatened with gang-rape. “amaake gonodhorshner humki (I am being threatened with gangrape),” Sen posted on Facebook, also uploading the obscene threat message. Talking to media, she said: “I am not worried about myself. The only way to fight fundamentalism is to go on writing more and take out more rallies.” She said she has lodged a First Information Report with the Kolkata police’s cyber crime cell.
Srijato has “strongly condemned” and expressed “disgust” over the issue. A police complaint was lodged against Srijato for posting a 12-line poem titled “Abhishaap” (“Curse”) that was posted on Facebook on March 19, the day Yogi Adityath was sworn in as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister. Complaint Arb Sarkar, said to be a member of Hindu right wing group, filed a general diary complaint at the Cyber Crime Police Station of northern West Bengal’s Siliguri Police Commissionerate on Monday night, demanding Srijato’s arrest and exemplary punishment for the post.
Sen had also participated in a rally in protest against the “attack” on Srijato and in the aftermath of the controversy, had also penned a few lines against fundamentalism. She had in 2015 returned her Sahitya Akademi Young Writers Special Award to protest against commul attacks in the country. (IANS)