Krishnagar, March 5: Women drove out the employees of a bank in Nadia today and locked it up because one of them had called women “a blot on society”.

Made to wait for hours yesterday to deposit money, two women had protested at the Chapra branch of United Bank of India. The man at the counter, Manoj Biswas, had retorted with the barb on women.

Sujata Ghosh and Hafeza Mondal returned to the bank, 130km from Calcutta, today with some 300 of their mates.

Senior UBI officials rushed to Chapra and apologised to break the siege.

“We’ve tendered an unconditional apology and showcaused the employee,” said branch manager Badal Mondal.

The women had gone to the bank to deposit Rs 30,000 belonging to self-help groups. Most of it was in Rs 10 and 20 notes and Biswas asked them to wait. Hafeza, a panchayat samiti functionary, and Sujata waited for three hours. “We realised we had small notes and it would take time to count. So we kept waiting,” said Sujata.

They ran out of patience at 4. The women thrust the notes across the counter and asked Biswas to deposit them.

“He threw the bundles on the floor, screamed at us and added that women were jaatir kolonko (a blot on society),” Hafeza said.

Humiliated, they left the bank and planned this morning’s siege. The women marched to the bank around 10, locked it up and started squatting in front of it.

Standing outside, Biswas said: “They are making a mountain out of a molehill.”