Investigating claims of land-grabbing by certain TMC officials, a delegation led by Vijaya Bharati Sayani of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) made a second visit to the tumultuous district of Sandeshkhali today. Three members of one team went to Jeliakhali, and two members of another team went to the Sandeshkhali Police Station and interacted with the locals.
Sujit Bose and Partha Bhowmick, two West Bengal ministers, visited the region’s troubled Sandeshkhali on Saturday to assess the situation, while police in North 24 Parganas district stopped a CPI (M) team led by Minakshi Mukhopadhyay from entering the region’s interior. Along with Sandeshkhali MLA Sukumar Mahato, State Ministers Bose and Bhowmick for Fire Services and Water, respectively, went on a tour of the area, talking with the locals and listening to their complaints.
However, the police stopped the CPI (M) delegation led by Mukhopadhay from going any farther into interior villages, claiming the installation of prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC.
They were halted in the Majher Para neighborhood, where CPI (M) activists had set up a sit-in and were brandishing anti-police banners.
Investigating claims of land-grabbing by certain TMC officials, a delegation led by Vijaya Bharati Sayani of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) made a second visit to the tumultuous district of Sandeshkhali today.
Three members of one team went to Jeliakhali, and two members of another team went to the Sandeshkhali Police Station and interacted with the locals.
Supratim Sarkar, ADG (South Bengal), also paid a visit to the region.
As some villagers attempted to attack a TMC supporter, tensions in the Halder Para region of Sandeshkhali flared, but police were able to bring the situation under control, according to an officer.
On the other hand, Sandeshkhali’s predicament was compared to Nandigram by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, where a protest against “forcible” land acquisition by the former Left Front government in 2007–08 propelled the TMC to power in 2011.
According to the Economic Times, “The situation in Sandeshkhali is like Nandigram… people have brought serious allegations of land-grabbing, vote-looting, sexual harassment, and murder of democracy in the area,” he stated to reporters in Kolkata.
In several areas of Sandeshkhali, prohibition orders under Section 144 of the CrPC are still in effect.
Protests against local TMC leaders, Sheikh Shajahan and his brother Sheikh Sirajuddin, for allegedly seizing land and harassing women sexually have shaken the region.
A crowd purportedly connected to the local TMC leadership ambushed a team of ED officials conducting a raid on Shajahan’s home on January 5, sparking unrest in the neighborhood.
Members of the National Commission for Women, the National ST and SC commissions, and the National Human Rights Commission also paid the region a visit.
In an effort to give the residents confidence, the Director General of Police also made two visits to the region.
