E-Paper
‘TMC goons threatening Sandeshkhali women protesters’: BJP candidate Rekha Patra
BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Basirhat, Rekha Patra on Thursday said women of Sandeshkhali who protested are being threatened with rape and murder by TMC workers
BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Basirhat, Rekha Patra on Thursday alleged that women of Sandeshkhali who protested against the TMC leaders are being threatened with rape and murder, ANI reported.
“The women of Sandeshkhali who protested are being threatened that they will be killed and raped,” Patro told ANI. "These TMC goons are perpetrating violence everywhere in the village of Sandeshkhali. Why are they not being arrested? Our West Bengal police are colluding with TMC goons and doing all this."
She alleged that one of the woman in Sandeshkhali was abducted on Wednesday and raped.
Also Read | Sporadic violence reported in pockets of West Bengal; Sandeshkhali remains tense
“Yesterday, one of our sisters was taken away from her house by tying her hands. She was raped, and they tried to kill her...BJP is trying to support us and therefore made me the candidate from Basirhat Lok Sabha seat,” she said. “But TMC is doing wrong to us.”
Sandeshkhali on the boil
The riverine island hit the headlines in February this year when village women staged violent protests over allegations of sexual assault and land grabbing while demanding the arrest of local TMC strongman Sheikh Shajahan and his aides. The BJP made it a key poll plank this year.
On May 4, however, the TMC released a purported sting video in which a local BJP leader could be allegedly seen saying that leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari had paid money to village women to lodge false complaints of rape.
Also Read | ‘Mamata should be ashamed’: Amit Shah jabs Bengal CM on Sandeshkhali
On May 12, village women led by BJP candidate Rekha Patra attacked a TMC worker with allegations of making fake videos. Police arrested four persons. Fresh clashes broke out when TMC workers allegedly tore a poster of a BJP leader. Village women blocked roads with burning tyres.
Shahjahan, the key Sandeshkhali accused, is currently behind bars in connection with the attack on a team of the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) while it was in the process of raiding his residence in connection with the alleged ration scam.
Also Read | TMC moves ECI against NCW chief for ‘alarming collusion’ in Sandeshkhali row
BJP's Rekha Patra will be contesting against Trinamool Congress' Haji Nurul Islam for the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat. The constituency will go to the polls in the last phase on June 1. The counting of votes will be held on June 4.
