Sandeshkhali villagers beat TMC leader Ajit Maity with footwear amid unrest

NORTH 24 PARAGANAS: As Sandeshkhali continued to be on the boil, protesters broke through fences and physically assaulted Trinamool Congress leader Ajit Maity on Friday in the presence of media crew. Maity is an MLA from Paschim Medinipur’s Pingla Assembly constituency.

Visuals from the site showed villagers ransacking Maity’s house and beating him with slippers as protests continued in the Bermajur area of Sandeshkhali where angry villagers clashed with the police on Friday. Villagers in Bermajur also tried to prevent police vehicles from passing through the area.

“We did not stop them initially. We just wanted to talk to them about why they were detaining our boys without any charge. They did not listen. The police vehicle ran over a woman’s feet. We want to talk to them,” a woman protester said.

“Is there any law and order in this country? Police tried to run over a girl. If the public had not known the girl would have died”, a protester said. “Sheikh Shahjahan, Sirajuddin have confiscated all our plots of land. We were protesting. Police forcefully drove through protesters. One of the protesters broke their leg in the process”, another protester said.

“Police is protecting those who are the oppressors. And, the people who are being looted, police are committing atrocities against them. This is the state of West Bengal. No woman, student, nobody is safe here. Everyone is being looted of their land and self-respect”, West Bengal BJP Mahila Morcha president Falguni Patra said.

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Locket Chatterjee was detained by the police on her way to Sandeshkhali. “I was detained by police without any information. I will go to Sandeshkhali. Why has Mamata Banerjee not spoken in support of the women in Sandeshkhali? If Mamata Banerjee being a woman CM has not gone there, then we have to go there being a public servant”, Chatterjee said on Friday.

Meanwhile, the BJP has clarified that Sabyasachi Ghosh, who was arrested on charges of running a prostitution racket in Howrah, is not associated with the party.

“It has come to our attention that WB Police has arrested one Sabyasachi Ghosh, on charges of running a prostitution racket in Howrah and claims that he is a BJP leader. BJP West Bengal denies having any association with the accused. We wish to put on record that Sabyasachi Ghosh holds no position in the party,” the Howrah branch of the BJP said in a statement on Friday.

The women protesters in Sandeshkhali are seeking justice against alleged atrocities committed by TMC leader Sheikh Shahjahan and his aides.

A large number of women in Sandeshkhali had accused Trinamool Congress strongman Shajahan Sheikh and his supporters of “land-grab and sexually assaulting” them under coercion. Shahjahan continues to evade arrest, with both state police and central agencies unable to trace him. (ANI)