Ahmedabad: A BJP lawmaker in Gujarat is on camera thrashing and kicking a woman on a street, ignoring her screams, until a man stops him with a blow. In a video clip circulated on social media, the attacker, a BJP legislator named Balram Thawani, is seen assaulting the woman who was reportedly participating in a protest over water supply in Naroda in Ahmedabad.
The woman, Nitu Tejwani, is a supporter of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). According to witnesses, she was already being manhandled by another man when Balram Thawani is seen coming out of his office and joining him in beating her.
The incident took place on Sunday. Nitu Tejwani has complained to the police against the legislator.
“I went to meet Balram to discuss the lack of proper water in the area. Without saying anything, he (Balram) came and started slapping and thrashing me. When my husband saw this, he came to my rescue. Immediately, some of Balram’s supporters came from inside and started thrashing my husband with sticks. Women who were protesting along with me were also brutally beaten up by Balram and his supporters,” she has been quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Balram Thawani has been quoted in reports as saying that he had hit out “in self-defence”, that he was attacked in his office first. The woman, he said in those report, was hurt by accident. He has now apologized, according to ANI.
“I got swayed by emotions, I accept the mistake, it was not intentional. I have been in politics for last 22 years, such a thing has never happened before. I will say sorry to her,” Thawani told ANI.
