Major Human Rights Violation: Central Fact-Finding Team on Sandeshkhali Visit

Kolkata: In the strife-ridden region of Sandeshkhali, a fact finding team led by Former chief justice of Patna High Court, L Narasimha Reddy visited to some villages on Sunday to initiate the first-hand investigation and claimed that there are major human rights violation in the region. 

Controversial Trinamool Congress leader Sheikh Shahjahan was arrested by the West Bengal Police on February 28 night over an attack on officials of the Enforcement Directorate last month. The Trinamool leader, against whom multiple allegations of land grab and sexual assault have been levelled by villagers at Sandeshkhali, was sent to 10 days in police custody by a court. 

Following the visit to Sandeshkhali, a fact finding team member Retired Inspector General Rajpal Singh said, “There are major human rights violation in Sandeshkhali. After Shahjahan's arrest, police's behaviour was complimentary towards him. He was seen walking like a king (following his arrest). There must be many like Shahjahan in Bengal.” 

"The fact-finding team covered three places in Sandeshkhali and interacted with locals of Majherpara who revealed their grievances. The general complaint was related to Shahjahan's mafia and his aides Uttam Sardar and others over land grabbing incidents. Money sharks were also snatching money from people. Their contribution was being given to the TMC government," said a fact-finding team member.

Bhavana, a member of the fact-finding team, spoke about the troubling situation in Sandeshkhali. She described the incident as ‘heart wrenching’ and mentioned difficulties faced in gathering facts due to government protection and police interference. “They don't want the facts to come to light”, Bhavana said.

Besides L Narasimha Reddy, the other members of the team include retired IPS officer Raj Pal Singh; advocate and former member of the National Commission for Women, Charu Wali Khanna; advocate and former registrar of the National Human Rights Commission, O.P. Vyas; senior journalist Sanjeev Nayak; and consultant to the NFRC and NCPCR, Bhavna Bajaj, according to a press statement issued by the committee.

The fact-finding team had tried to reach Sandeshkhali on February 25, but was stopped midway by the state police, citing prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC as the reason.

A suit was filed at the Calcutta High Court in the matter and on February 28, the single-judge bench of Justice Kaushik Chanda allowed the Central fact-finding team to visit Sandeshkhali. According to the press statement issued by the committee, the team will visit three places in Sandeshkhali on Sunday: Majher Para, Natun Para and the Naskar Para Ras Temple.

TMC Reacts to Fact Finding Team's Remark

On the fact-finding committee, West Bengal Minister and TMC leader Shashi Panja said, "All I want to say is that we cannot ignore the steps taken by the CM. West Bengal is on state where steps are taken against the wrong. Even when the accusations had not been proven, steps were taken because people were in trouble. They should definitely go for fact-finding but no other fact should be established. There are no fact-finding missions in BJP-ruled states."