To protest against arrest of dad, Bengal BJP leader's daughter refuses to receive bicycle from govt

A Class 10 girl in WestBengals Birbhum district has refused to receive a freebicycle from the state government to protest against thearrest of her father who is a local BJP leader, the headmasterof her school said on Saturday.Moutrisha Dey, a student of Kusumi High School inRampurhat subdivision of the district, wrote a letter to theauthorities of the institute saying that she would not receivethe bicycle as her father was arrested allegedly in falsecases.Biycles under the Sabuj Sathi scheme were distributedamong students on Friday.

A Class 10 girl in WestBengal's Birbhum district has refused to receive a freebicycle from the state government to protest against thearrest of her father who is a local BJP leader, the headmasterof her school said on Saturday.

Moutrisha Dey, a student of Kusumi High School inRampurhat subdivision of the district, wrote a letter to theauthorities of the institute saying that she would not receivethe bicycle as her father was arrested allegedly in falsecases.

''Biycles under the Sabuj Sathi scheme were distributedamong students on Friday. She refused to accept it. We haveinformed the higher authorities and returned the cycle,'' theheadmaster of the school, Srikanta Mondal, said.

Free bicycles are distributed to students from classes9 to 12 in government and government-aided schools andmadrasas of the state under the Sabuj Sathi (green companion)scheme. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee launched the scheme in2015.

The schoolgirl alleged that the police arrested herfather on September 17, 2020, after implicating him in falsecases.

''We had to suffer a lot while my father was in policecustody and judicial custody,'' Dey told the media.

Her father Sushanta Dey, the president ofMayureshwar-II block of the BJP, claimed that the police filedone case after another against him on the basis of falseallegations last year and he is now out on bail.

''I had to spend 35 days in police custody and jailcustody,'' he said.

The decision of not receiving the bicycle was taken byhis daughter, he said.

Local leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress,however, alleged that the girl did not accept the bicycle atthe instigation of her father ahead of the assembly electionsdue in April-May.