Guwahati: Prajoyeeta Kashyap, daughter of former Assam chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, has got herself embroiled in a major controversy after a video was circulated, showing her hitting a man with a slipper and hurling abuses.
Prajoyeeta has tried to defend herself by saying that she was teaching a lesson to an errant driver, but could had nothing to say when asked why she didn’t lodge a police complaint against the man.
The video started being circulated on Monday. It is from the high-security MLA Hostel in Dispur and shows a man kneeling on the ground. A woman, resembling Prajoyeeta, keeps on hiting him with a slipper. At the same time, she is heard uttering abuses. There are a few people around, but none of them seem to be interested to intervene till someone gets close and apparently informs her that the episode is being recorded.
Prajoyeeta then moves away from the man, who continues to kneel on the ground, and speaks to others.
Prajoyeeta did not deny that the video features her. According to her, the man on his knees, is a driver who has been working for her family for a long time now.
“He drinks daily and then misbehaves. We have tried to make him understand on several occasions. Everybody knows this. But, he has been continuing to behave in that manner. He crossed all limits today when he started banging on the door of my room in a drunken stupor. He had to be taught a lesson,” she told media representatives.
When asked why she had not dismissed the driver or turned him over to the police, instead of taking the law into her own hands, she had no answer. “It is sad that people continue to blame women in such conditions,” she said.
There has been no official statement from the government regarding this assault. Nor is it known whether the driver concerned is a government employee.
