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‘Bengal needs President’s rule’: NCW chairperson at Sandeshkhali
NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma visited Sandeshkhali and spoke to some of the women who have accused local Trinamool Congress leaders of sexual assault
West Bengal should be under President’s rule, National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson Rekha Sharma said on Monday at Sandeshkhali in the state’s North 24 Parganas district after talking to some of the women who have accused local Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders of sexual assault, triggering a series of mass agitation since February 7.
“Many women at Sandeshkhali were molested. I heard about two rapes. One rape case was filed today. Nothing will happen in West Bengal unless there is President’s rule,” Sharma told reporters after police registered a complaint based on the statement given by the victim she had talked to.
The Basirhat police district’s control room said it had no information on whether a new rape case was filed on Monday as claimed by Sharma. Neither the superintendent of Basirhat police district, Hossein Mehedi Rehman, nor the officer-in-charge of Sandeshkhali police station, Biswajit Sapui, could be contacted for confirmation.
Taking on chief minister Mamata Banerjee who is yet to visit the area, Sharma said: “Where is the chief minister? She should resign and come here as a woman to understand the pain of these people.”
Local women - most of whom belong to scheduled caste (SC) and scheduled tribe (ST) communities - have levelled the allegations at panchayat zilla parishad members Shiba Prasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar, who are key TMC leaders in the region. The women have also named TMC’s Sandeshkhali unit president Sheikh Shahjahan, who is wanted for the January 5 attack on Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials who raided his home in connection with the alleged ₹2000 crore public distribution system (PDS) scam.
Police arrested Sardar on February 10 on charges of inciting violence shortly after TMC suspended him for six years. Hazra, who is also president of the TMC unit at Sandeshkhali-2 community block, was arrested on Saturday and charged with gangrape, attempt to murder and molestation. Although 18 people have been arrested so far, Shahjahan remained untraceable till Monday.
“Why has Shahjahan not been arrested yet?” Sharma asked.
On February 15, Arun Haldar, chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, visited Sandeshkhali and submitted a report to President Draupadi Murmu recommending President’s rule in Bengal.
“We have found that Article 338 of the Constitution, which protects members of the SC and ST communities, has been grossly violated at Sandeshkhali and other parts of Bengal. This alone is a ground for imposing President’s rule,” Haldar told the media in Delhi a day after his visit.
Sharma’s comments drew sharp reactions from the TMC.
Pointing at states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Bengal’s industry minister Shashi Panja said: “Did you (Sharma) ever visit Manipur where women were raped and paraded naked? Did you recommend President’s rule for Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan or Madhya Pradesh where so many women were raped and murdered.”
“The Bengal government has arrested two TMC leaders and a 10-member police team is meeting the women at Sandeshkhali every day to hear out their complaints. The NCW is welcome here but please do not politicise the issue on behalf of the BJP,” Panja said.
Since police have clamped prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), barring assembly of five or more people, at 19 locations in Sandeshkhali, BJP leaders were earlier stopped by the authorities from entering the region.
The Calcutta high court on Monday granted permission to leader of Opposition in the West Bengal assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, to visit Sandeshkhali but justice Kausik Chanda, who passed the order, directed the BJP leader not to give any provocative speech or create law and order issues.
The court directed the state to provide adequate security for Adhikari.
Sandeshkhali is an assembly constituency comprising 16 gram panchayat areas in the Sunderbans region. The allegations have been made mostly by residents of Sandeshkhali-2 community block.
The villagers ransacked several poultry farms and fisheries owned by Hazra and Sardar. Bikash Sinha, a local BJP leader, and Nirapada Sardar, the CPI(M)’s former Sandeshkhali legislator, were also arrested after the sporadic violence that started on February 7.
The state land department has opened camps to register the complaints of villagers about alleged land grabbing by the TMC leaders. Several farmers have alleged their land was forcefully grabbed and turned into saltwater fisheries over the last decade, making the soil unfit for conventional farming.
Three Bengal ministers visited Sandeshkhali on Sunday to speak to the residents and said the ruling party will raise money and compensate those who have suffered losses.
