Three West Bengal ministers on Sunday rushed to Sandeshkhali, which has been witnessing violent protests since early this month in opposition to allegations of sexual atrocities on ladies and land grabbing by native Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders, to talk to the residents about their grievances, whilst chief minister Mamata Banerjee blamed the Bharatiya Janata Social gathering (BJP) for attempting to create disturbance within the state.
After assembly aggrieved individuals who assembled at Kalinagar village, hearth providers minister Sujit Bose, irrigation minister Partha Bhowmick and forest minister Birbaha Hansda mentioned the ruling TMC will increase cash and compensate those that have suffered losses due to native get together leaders. Sandeshkhali’s TMC legislator Sukumar Mahata additionally accompanied them.
“We’re right here to hearken to the grievances and likewise meet our native leaders,” Bose mentioned, and claimed that allegations have come from a couple of locations in Sandeshkhali, which has 16 panchayat areas. “We’re not attempting to muzzle anybody’s voice; the accused individuals have been arrested.”
The state land division additionally opened camps to register the complaints of villagers about alleged land grabbing by some native TMC leaders. A number of farmers have alleged their land have been forcefully grabbed and was salt water fisheries over the past decade, making the soil unfit for standard farming.
Since police have clamped prohibitory orders underneath Part 144 of the Code of Legal Process (CrPC), barring meeting of 5 or extra folks, at 19 places in Sandeshkhali, the ministers mentioned they met the villagers at Kalingar, the place the order was not in pressure.
A six-member BJP panel, headed by Union minister Annapurna Devi, was stopped from visiting Sandeshkhali by the administration, citing prohibitory orders.
Sandeshkhali, an meeting constituency comprising 16 village panchayats in North 24 Parganas district, has been witnessing tensions since January 5, when an Enforcement Directorate staff that arrived to raid TMC chief Sheikh Shahjahan’s home in reference to a money-laundering case was attacked by a mob. At the same time as Shahjahan has evaded arrest, since February 7, villagers led by native ladies have held violent protests in opposition to alleged sexual harassment and exploitation by native TMC leaders.
Up to now, 18 folks, together with native TMC chief Shibaprasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar, each members of zilla parishad, have been arrested in reference to varied circumstances registered over complaints of sexual assault, land grabbing, try and homicide and inciting violence in Sandeshkhali.
Hazra, a village panchayat member who was arrested on Saturday night, was remanded in police custody until February 26 by the Barasat courtroom on Sunday. “Hazra has been charged with gangrape, try and homicide and molestation,” Arun Pal, the general public prosecutor, advised reporters.
A crowd assembled exterior the courtroom premises demanded arrest of Shahjahan, TMC’s Sandeshkhali unit chief, who was defended by chief minister Banerjee a couple of days in the past.
Native ladies, most of whom belong to scheduled caste (SC) and scheduled tribe (ST) communities, have accused Hazra and Sardar of exploitation and torture. Each are recognized to be shut aides of Shahjahan.
In the meantime, chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday accused the BJP of orchestrating the incident in Sandeshkhali with the assistance of the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Talking at a authorities occasion in Birbhum district, the TMC chief mentioned that not a single girl in Sandeshkhali has lodged any first info report (FIR).
“Not a single girl (from Sandeshkhali) has lodged any FIR. It was me who directed the police to lodge a suo motu case. Our block president has been arrested,” Banerjee mentioned. “The complete incident was engineered. First, they (BJP) despatched ED to Sandeshkhali after which the BJP entered the world.”
She added that if “anybody complained that cash was taken from them, then we are going to return it. However no one has made such an allegation.”
Nationwide Fee for Ladies chairperson Rekha Sharma is scheduled to go to Sandeshkhali on Monday.
Rejecting Banerjee’s allegations, state BJP’s chief spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya mentioned: “The arrest of Shibaprasad Hazra proves that rape and molestation occurred. If TMC is speaking of returning cash, then it’s evident that extortion and land grabbing occurred at random.”