Last Updated: February 16, 2024, 08:23 IST
National Commission for Women (NCW) on Thursday condemned the ongoing violence in Sandeshkhali’s violence. (Image: News18)
Women in Sandeshkhali, a small village in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, have alleged atrocities committed against them by a TMC strongman Shajahan Sheikh and his aides
The unrest in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali sparked a political war of words with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accusing the BJP of fomenting trouble in the area. The National Commission for Women (NCW), on the other hand, accused her party TMC and the state government of being complicit in the heinous crimes against women in the area.
BJP’s six-member committee will visit the violence-hit area on Friday.
ALSO READ: TMC Strongman at Large after Land Grabbing, Sexual Assault Charges: Why Sandeshkhali is Simmering
“First, they entered the area and targeted Sheikh Shahjahan through ED and then they started the trouble thereby getting people in.,” the TMC supremo said.
What is Happening in Sandeshkhali?
Women in Sandeshkhali, a small village in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, have alleged atrocities committed against them by a TMC strongman Shajahan Sheikh and his aides. The indigenous women of the state have alleged sexual assault and land grabbing at the behest of Shajahan Sheikh.
The area has been witnessing protests since February 7 led by women over alleged sexual assault by aides of fugitive TMC strongman Sheikh Shahjahan, who has been evading Enforcement Directorate (ED) summons since January 5 when some villagers attacked ED officers during a search operation as part of a probe into alleged ration scam.
Sandeshkhali Unrest | Latest Updates
- The BJP has formed a six-member committee of party MPs, five of them being women, who will visit unrest-hit Sandeshkhali on Friday.
- Union ministers Pratima Bhoumik, Annapurna Devi, who is the committee’s convener, Sunita Duggal, Kavita Patidar, Sangeeta Yadav and Brij Lal, a former Uttar Pradesh DGP, are part of the committee, a statement by the party said.
- Many BJP workers including state BJP Kishan Morcha president Mahadev Sarkar were attacked by the police in a lathi charge during a protest against the “brutal abuse” of women by “TMC-backed miscreants” in Sandeshkhali, the BJP said on Thursday.
- West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, on the other hand, said on Thursday that 17 individuals have been arrested in the case so far.
- “I sent the state commission and administration there. 17 people have been arrested so far…Our women’s team is present there. A women police team is visiting people at their doorsteps to listen to their grievances,” the TMC chief said.
