The woman who attacked the bus during Wednesday’s bandh

The Brick Lady is being brought to book.

Armed with the series of photographs that appeared in The Telegraph, Tiljala police station on Thursday initiated a case of rioting and causing damage to property against the woman shown hurling a brick at a bus, not once but twice.

The bus came under attack at 11.04am on Wednesday, near the Trinamul Congress Bhavan, during the 12-hour bandh called by the party.

The Trinamul top brass was quick to distance itself from the woman whom the police are now trying to track down.

“I haven’t seen her in all my years in the party. No political activist would pose in front of the camera while hurling bricks at a bus,” argued Mukul Roy, the Trinamul MP and general secretary.

Leader of the Opposition Partha Chatterjee, too, went into see-no-evil mode. “I have never seen this woman. Moreover, our leader had clearly instructed party activists not to resort to violence to enforce the bandh,” he stressed.

According to the rule book, the woman, if arrested under sections 143 (rioting) and 427 (causing damage) of the IPC, can be sent to jail for three to six months and be made to pay a fine.

“We have registered a case and conducted a mechanical test of the vehicle. Parama investigation centre, under Tiljala police station, is carrying out the probe,” said Praveen Kumar, the superintendent of police (South 24-Parganas).

According to officials, the mechanical report submitted to the police proved that the Calcutta Tramways Company bus of Bidhannagar depot had suffered damage in the brick attack. The driver of the bus, Samir Chatterjee, has also lodged a complaint.

Legal experts felt that both Trinamul and the state administration could be dragged to court for the antics of the Brick Lady.

“Any person can move court against her by producing a copy of The Telegraph. Compensation can be claimed either from her or the party she belongs to for damaging public property. She can also be sued on the basis of the Supreme Court order stating that no member of a political party could enforce a bandh,” said a lawyer.

A former judge observed that the state administration can also be hauled up for not following a high court guideline. “The court had instructed the administration to ask any political party calling a bandh to deposit a lump sum, from which compensation would be paid if any damage to property was caused,” he explained.