Alipurduar, June 16: A member of a gram panchayat along with her husband was severely beaten up, when she protested against her neighbour?s attempt to tap electricity illegally.

Anjana Chakrabarty, a resident of Sovaganj under Chaporerpar gram panchayat in Alipurduar Block-II, has also accused Dipak Das of outraging her modesty. An FIR has been filed with the Alipurduar police station.

Last night, around 10 pm, when Das tried to tap an electricity line illegally from a pole near Chakrabarty?s house, her husband Niranjan protested. He resisted Das?s attempt, maintaining that it would affect the power supply in the area. Though Das went away, he came back after sometime with his son Toton, and attacked Niranjan. When Chakrabarty tried to rescue her husband, Das took off her saree.

The couple then shouted for help. Sensing trouble, the duo fled the area.

Chakrabarty alleged that earlier too Das had threatened her.

?He has a business in Guwahati and comes here frequently. The culprits have also threatened to kill me and kidnap my husband. Thirty-three per cent seats of the gram panchayat are reserved for women, but if this kind of incident happens with a panchayat member then one can imagine the plight of ordinary women.?she said.

According to Jagannath Das, the up-pradhan of the gram panchayat, the block development officer has also been informed of the incident.

?If the administration does not take any action against the culprits within 48 hours, then we will see to it that they are punished.?

Sunil Ghosh, the secretary of the Alipurduar I Zonal Committee of the CPM, and Biswaranjan Sarkar, the president of Jalpaiguri district committee of the Congress, have both condemned the incident.

The inspector-in-charge of Alipurduar police station, Tapan Alo Mitra, said though he had rushed to the spot as soon as he received the complaint, the culprits could not be arrested. ?We will continue to search for the culprits till we ultimately pull you down track down the duo.?