Fact-Finding Committee members on their way to Sandeshkhali arrested at Bhojerhat

Sandeshkhali unrest followed after several women accused TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh, his aides of sexual assault

February 25, 2024

Sandeshkhali: Members halted at Bhojerhat after which expressing discontent, the team stages a sit-in protest

The Mamata Banerjee government-led Bengal Police have arrested the members of the Fact-Finding Committee on their way to Sandeshkhali at Bhojerhat, South 24 Parganas. The committee was on its way where a massive protest against sexual abuse and land grab by a Trinamool Congress leader and his aides was underway.

The members were halted at Bhojerhat after which expressing discontent, the members staged a sit-in protest.

The members of the committee are composed of a former judge, a bureaucrat, and members of civil society. The team members are former Chief Justice of the Patna High Court, Justice L Narasimha Reddy, former IPS officer Raj Pal Singh, former National Commission for Women member Charu Wali Khanna, and advocate Bhavna Bajaj.

Charu Wali Khanna, a member of the Fact-Finding Committee has questioned the police saying, “Police should answer why they are trying to detain us? The way atrocities against women have been done, I wonder what the Police would have done with them? Police are not citing any reason to stop us; they are just doing what they have been asked to do.”

While talking to media persons, a member of the Fact-Finding Committee, O P Vyas said, “We are sitting here obediently to oppose as they (police) have stopped us illegally which is against our rights. We’ll complain about it to the CM, Governor, Union HM, and even to the PM. During Ram Navami, they did the same and stopped us because they were hiding something. I don’t understand what kind of picture this state govt wants to portray before the world. Constitutional machinery is collapsed in the state. Unfortunately, Police are executing illegal orders and taking the law in hands. We want to meet victims of Sandeshkhali.”

Another member of the Fact-Finding Committee, Narasimha Reddy said, “We sat here but it seems they’ve a problem with this also. Now, we will seek the appointment of the governor and explain the situation to him. Later we’ll talk about this to the Ministry of Home Affairs in Delhi.”

Sandeshkhali unrest followed after several women accused Trinamool Congress leader Shajahan Sheikh and his supporters of sexual assault and land grab earlier this month.

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