Sandeshkhali: As the ferry docked at Sandeshkhali in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district after a five-minute ride on the Kalindi river from Dhamakhali, the usual bustle is missing in this riverine island.
Rapid Action Force (RAF) and police are deployed in pockets keeping a vigil on people, as one can sense a palpable tension in the air.
A rickshaw passes by with a mike blaring on full volume about Section 144 imposed afresh Wednesday morning in five villages under the Sandeshkhali gram panchayat. Locals are advised to maintain peace and not gather as public gatherings are prohibited in the area.
Sandeshkhali is on the boil since the Enforcement Directorate (ED) reached Trinamool Congress (TMC) strongman Shahjahan Sheikh’s residence last month in connection with the probe into the alleged ration scam.
Wanted by the central agency, Sheikh has gone underground for nearly a month after the ED issued summons. This vacuum has led to the villagers, including women, of Sandeshkhali finding courage to speak out against the excesses of the TMC strongman, his close aides Shibu Hazra and Uttam Sardar and local administration.
Anger is spilling out on the broken brick roads in the form of protests at these villages. Uttam Sardar was arrested last week soon after he was suspended from the TMC for six years. The police have not taken action against Shibu Hazra, so far.
On 13 February, BJP IT cell head and West Bengal co-incharge Amit Malviya put out a tweet alleging that Sheikh and his men were holding young married women of Sandeshkhali in confinement and sexually assaulting them.
West Bengal is bleeding. Shahjahan Sheikh and his men are holding young married women of Sandeshkhali in confinement and raping them till they are satisfied…
But Mamata Banerjee, the tyrant of West Bengal, has unleashed police on BJP workers, led by state president Dr Sukanata… pic.twitter.com/3IQZJS0ke0
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) February 13, 2024
In Sandeshkhali, ThePrint spoke to several women, and while none of them alleged sexual harassment or assault, they spoke about being summoned to the party office at odd hours, being made to do menial work or face the threat of their husbands being beaten up if they refuse.
Sitting inside a modest house with asbestos roof, a homemaker from Colony Nagar says the unrest in Sandeshkhali has snatched her sleep. “We are not safe. We are summoned to the party office often and made to sit inside for hours. If we don’t go, our husbands are thrashed. We are threatened. They tell us the meeting is for preparing rallies, but they ask us to chop vegetables, bring sweets for the party men in the office,” she tells ThePrint.
Over the last five years, TMC’s Sandeshkhali II block president Shibu Hazra summoned women to the party office regularly, even late at night, after 10pm, she says.
A two-storey building with its terrace covered with a tin roof — opposite the panchayat office in Sandeshkhali Block 2 — is from where Shibu allegedly operated from. Currently, the building is deserted and locked. Towering above tin-roofed houses in the area, the building painted in green doesn’t have any signboard of being a TMC party office unlike others covered in banners of top leaders and party flags.
Neighbouring houses have hung locks on their entrance from inside, indicating the unwillingness of their occupants to speak about the building that is at the centre of severe allegations of muscle flexing.
“If we go to the police to complain, they refuse to file a complaint even if it’s a domestic issue or act. Instead, they tell us to go to Sheikh Shahjahan or Shibu Hazra for justice and a solution,” the homemaker recalls. “We have been pushed against the wall and that is why we have no option left but to speak out. If we need to die, we will but we want action against Sheikh, Shibu, and Uttam.”
A mother of an eight-year-old boy wants her son to become an engineer, but fears his fate will be like the rest of the boys of the village.
“The moment the boys turn 18, they are forced to work for the TMC. They are trained to become ‘mastaans’ (hoodlums) of the village. They imbibe vices like drinking, smoking and their future is tarnished. How can I allow my son to become an anti-social element?” she says.
The mother complains that children in the village are ‘future targets’ of the TMC men.
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Contrasting statements
The West Bengal Police, meanwhile, put up a series of tweets alleging “wilful misinformation” about sexual assault in Sandeshkhali.
“Wilful misinformation is being spread by a section of the media to mislead the people about the events in Sandeshkhali. It is reiterated that no allegations about rape of women have so far been received during the enquiries since conducted by the State Women’s Commission, an all-women 10-member fact-finding team led by DIG CID, and also the district police (sic),” it tweeted on 14 February.
The National Commission for Women (NCW) representatives have also corroborated this, saying that they did not receive any complaints of rape of local women during their enquiry, another tweet said.
The Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government has formed a 10-member women police team led by a DIG-rank officer to conduct an enquiry into the allegations raised by women in Sandeshkhali. The team went door-to-door on 13 February but not received any complaint of sexual assault. It carried out another round on 15 February.
Though the West Bengal Commission for Women maintained that it had not received any complaints of sexual assault following it inquiry on 13 February, its chairperson Leena Gangopadhyay told the media that women revealed that they were called to the (TMC) party office at the drop of a hat, that police refused to take complaints and that the panel is looking into the complaints.
On the other hand, the NCW on 14 February put up a tweet, making it amply clear that the situation was not normal. “NCW is concerned by the lack of accurate and responsible media coverage in the Sandeshkhali case. Our inquiry committee found that the victim in West Bengal is being threatened by local police, deterring them from coming out and reporting instances of sexual and physical harassment,” it said.
NCW is concerned by the lack of accurate and responsible media coverage in the Sandeshkhali case. Our inquiry committee found that the victim in West Bengal is being threatened by local police, deterring them from coming out and reporting instances of sexual and physical… https://t.co/XKogAna0wK
— NCW (@NCWIndia) February 14, 2024
The local administration has now decided to extend the curfew in five areas of Sandeshkhali that includes the ferry ghat entry points (including the one taken by this correspondent), the local market and one village till 18 February.
In Pratapur village, another woman stresses that there were never such largescale protests by local residents in “peaceful Sandeshkhali”. All she hopes is for empathy from the chief minister and take note of the pain of the hapless women.
“Our CM is a woman. Can she not understand our problem? No leader comes to speak to us. On days of polling, we only go to get a mark on our finger because when we reach the booth, someone has already cast our ballot. TMC doesn’t let anyone file nominations,” the woman says.
“We have not got our dues. When I go to the bank to withdraw money from the central schemes, they hand Rs 500 and keep the rest of the amount. How can I run a family with Rs 500? We have not got our 100-day (MNREGA) money for the last three years. If the CM cannot arrest these goons, she should resign.”
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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