Rape Claims In Sandeshkhali: National Caste Panel Recommends President’s Rule In Bengal

Kolkata: The National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) has recommended President’s Rule in West Bengal over political tension, violence and rape claims by several women in Sandeshkhali, a village in North 24 Parganas district.

A delegation of NCSC submitted a report to President Droupadi Murmu on Friday, a day after visiting Sandeshkhali.

“Criminals in the state have joined hands with the government there (and this) is impacting the lives of members of the Scheduled Caste communities,” NCSC chairperson Arun Halder said.

Halder claimed that the NCSC team didn’t get any assistance from West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s administration when they tried to meet the women who were allegedly assaulted by local leaders like the absconding Sheikh Shahjahan.

The BJP and other opposition parties have accused Trinamool Congress (TMC) strongman Shahjahan and his aides of sexual assaults on Sandeshkhali villagers.

Political tension has been boiling over in Sandeshkhali after authorities of the ruling party TMC stopped delegations of BJP and Congress from visiting Sandeshkhali.

“Why are Opposition parties being stopped from entering Sandeshkhali? What is the state trying to hide? Why are they trying to politicise it?” state Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said.

BJP leaders, who are meeting Governor CV Ananda Bose to complain about not being allowed to meet ‘victims’ of Sandeshkhali, accused Mamata of being “scared” and that “Hindu women were raped… Bengal is burning.”

The Sandeshkhali episode started in early January when officials of Enforcement Directorate (ED), who had gone to raid Shahjahan’s residence in connection with a multi-crore ration distribution scam, reportedly assaulted the ED team.

Thereafter, there have been several charges of rape and land-grabbing against local leaders by some villagers and Opposition parties.