Odissi Dancer’s Complaint Against West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose

“He went in his private car, without her security, to meet her at a hotel. She alleged that he had sexually assaulted her (at the hotel),” a Kolkata Police official said. The Quint on condition of anonymity after a second case of sexual harassment surfaced against West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose last week.

The case relates to a complaint filed in October last year by an Odissi dancer from the state who accused the governor of sexually harassing her at a Delhi hotel in January 2023, according to a report submitted by the Delhi police. Calcutta to West Bengal government on May 10.

According to the police official, the Odishi dancer claimed that Bose had promised to help her with a “personal problem”.

The Quint contacted Raj Bhavan several times. In response to one of our emails, they wrote that “the email has been received and is being reviewed.” Meanwhile, Bose is yet to react to the dancer’s allegations.

Speaking about the October 2023 complaint, the police official said The Quint that the dancer said she first met the governor at a reception.

“She said in her complaint that the governor took her to Delhi to participate in a program and promised to introduce her to an official of the Ministry of External Affairs in Delhi after she spoke to him about some issues related to visas for his foreign trip He then ordered one of his relatives in Bengaluru to book him a flight ticket to Delhi. The governor’s relative also booked him a room in a luxury hotel in Delhi on 5. and January 6 Bose stayed at Banga Bhawan in Delhi to visit the woman in the hotel.

Calcutta Police Officer

The governor allegedly came alone in his private car and harassed her at the hotel, the survivor alleged in her complaint. The official added that the dancer alleged that the governor sexually assaulted her in the hotel room.

When The Quint Contacted the dancer, she told him she wasn’t feeling well and would speak to the media “in the coming days.”

This new allegation comes against the backdrop of another sexual harassment allegation against the governor.

A staff member at Raj Bhavan alleged that she was sexually harassed by Bose on two occasions – on April 24 and May 2.

The woman, aged in her 20s, further alleged that “after the governor touched her inappropriately, three employees of Raj Bhavan tried to stop her from filing a complaint.” They locked her in a room there, forcibly confiscated her cellphone and bag and tried to get her to change her mind about filing a police report, she claimed.

“A pantry staff member and a peon tried to arrest me and the officer (former IAS) forcibly confined me in the EPBX room and snatched my phone while I was trying to call my mother. The peon grabbed my bag and tried to snatch it when I was trying to call my mother. I was trying to run out of the room.

The survivor of the Quint

The police announced on Saturday (May 18) that an FIR had been filed against these three employees of the Hare Street police station.

“The three policemen have been included in the FIR for preventing the complainant from leaving Raj Bhavan by unjustly detaining her on May 2. We will investigate their roles that evening,” a Kolkata Police official told the media.

The police confirmed The telegraph On May 13, a Raj Bhavan staff member was seen in CCTV footage from the Raj Bhavan complex carrying a bag they believed belonged to the woman who accused Bose of sexual harassment.

According to the Kolkata Police report, “the images appear to corroborate the complainant’s statement that her bag was being carried by someone else.”

The survivor further alleged The Quint“The governor then decided to reveal my identity to the public. My identity was compromised.”

On May 6, the governor announced that he would show the CCTV footage from the Raj Bhavan premises on May 2 to 100 ordinary people, excluding “politicians” and police personnel.

According to reports, the footage, lasting around 69 minutes, captured by two CCTV cameras installed at the North Gate, showed the woman approaching the policemen at the police outpost near the North Gate from Raj Bhavan at around 5:33 p.m. on May 2.

Revealing the identity of a survivor/victim of a sex crime is against the law. “I know that because of constitutional immunity, nothing will happen to a sitting governor. But what about the crime he committed? I decided to write to the president (of the (India) to ask for his intervention in this matter I am writing to him to obtain justice and nothing else,” the survivor told the news agency. PTI.

Meanwhile, reacting to the new allegations against Bose from the Odishi dancer, The Indian Express quoted the staffer as saying, “I don’t know if he can still hold a constitutional office and have immunity even after today’s news…”