NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi met the women victims of sexual assault in Sandeshkhali village of West Bengal on Wednesday, sources said. “They put forward their ordeal and the Prime Minister heard them patiently like a father figure. The victims were very emotional with the fact that the PM understood their pain”, the sources further added.
Tension rose in Sandeshkhali after hundreds of women on the island came out on the streets against Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Shahjahan Sheikh, accusing him of perpetrating sexual abuse and other excesses on them along with his henchmen. After weeks of no action, on February 29, Sheikh Shahjahan was arrested by West Bengal police after which West Bengal’s Basirhat Court remanded him to 10-day police custody.
Following Shahjahan’s arrest, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claimed that he had been “put under the hospitality” of the state police in a bid to avoid arrest by the ED and the CBI. A large number of women in Sandeshkhali had accused Shajahan Sheikh and his close aides of “land-grab and sexual assault” under coercion.
#WATCH | Women from Sandeshkhali to attend women's rally to be addressed by PM Modi in West Bengal's Barasat, today
A local from Sandeshkhali says, "We are going to PM Modi to urge him to ensure that we can cast our vote, justice for atrocities against women and peace." pic.twitter.com/8rYIY1IjQQ
— ANI (@ANI) March 6, 2024
Earlier in the day, several women supporters of the party from Sandeshkhali were seen making their way to the rally venue to listen to the Prime Minister. One of the women, who was marching to Barasat, said, “All our respect is gone and the way we got tortured we are going to say all this to our Prime Minister Narendra Modi and we wish to have Modi Ji by our side and help us”.
Another woman from Sandeshkhali said that they wanted to urge PM Modi to allow them to cast their vote without fear. “We are going to PM Modi to urge him to ensure that we can cast our vote, justice for atrocities against women and peace”, she said.
These women who are making their way to attend PM Modi’s rally said that they just want to live in peace and escape the tyranny of some politicians. “We want to live in peace. People like Shibu Hazra, Sheikh Shahjahan and Uttam Sardar should not come back. We can cast our votes ourselves”, a woman said.
Calling the women of Sandeshkhali, his parivar (family), Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday accused the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government of shielding the accused in the Sandeshkhali case and said that it is a “matter of shame.”
“Under TMC’s rule, the women of this land have been tortured. Whatever happened in Sandeshkhali will put anyone to shame but the TMC government does not care about your issues. TMC government is hell-bent on saving the perpetrator. Their acts were first condemned by the High Court and then the Supreme Court as well. TMC leaders have committed atrocities on the women of the state. Leaders of TMC are torturing the women from poor, Dalit, and Adivasis groups. TMC govt trusts its leaders more than it trusts the women of Bengal. TMC has full confidence in their leader but not in the women of West Bengal”, the Prime Minister said.
“TMC government can never provide protection to women. Whereas, the BJP government has decided to award life imprisonment for heinous crimes like rape. For easy registration of women’s complaints, we have arranged for a ‘Women Helpine’, but the TMC government is not letting it operate in West Bengal. This TMC government can never work for the welfare of women”, the Prime Minister added.
Meanwhile, the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday ordered that further investigation investigation should be handed over to CBI and the custody of the accused Sheikh Shahjhan by 4.15 pm. The court observed that the state police have played hide and seek in the matter. The accused is a highly political influencer. (ANI)