'If One Person Can Hold...': Calcutta HC Slams Bengal Govt Over Shahjahan Sheikh | Sandeshkhali Row Updates

A division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday allowed BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari to visit the strife-torn Sandeshkhali after police stopped him from entering the region earlier in the day.

The bench headed by Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam noted that the conditions put by the single Judge bench on Monday are “stringent” and its order is “well reasoned”.

Meanwhile, the Court on Monday removed Section 144 for the next seven days in Sandeshkhali.

National Commission for Women (NCW) Chairperson Rekha Sharma will hold a meeting with the state Chief Secretary and DGP on Tuesday. Earlier on Monday, she visited and met the women of Sandeshkhali. She said several women shared their harrowing experiences and one even reported being raped inside a TMC party office.

LATEST UPDATES

• Senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari visited the strife-torn region and described the situation there as “horrific” and a “clear example of anarchy”.
• “The experiences narrated by the locals are spine-chilling. Their lands have been usurped, and women exploited… and everything happened with the help of the police and the administration. The situation is completely horrific and is a clear example of anarchy prevailing in the area,” he said.
• Following the Calcutta HC’s order, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari has finally been allowed to enter Sandeshkhali.
• “If one person can hold the entire population to ransom, ruling dispensation should not support him,” the Chief Justice said.
• Meanwhile, while hearing the Sandeshkhali case, the court also referred to the absconding TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh and said that he “cannot be on the run”. “The state cannot support it. In the suo moto matter, we will ask him to surrender here,” Chief Justice Sivagnanam said.
• The High Court noted that the police could not impose Section 144 when the single-judge bench had already allowed Suvendu Adhikari’s visit.
• A division bench of the Calcutta High Court allowed LoP Suvendu Adhikari to visit the violence-hit region after he was stopped by cops earlier in the day.
• Meanwhile, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari has been stopped by the cops in Sandeshkhali. “They are challenging the judiciary by stopping me,” Adhikari said. The West Bengal LoP said that he is giving the authorities time till 12:10 pm, adding that if they don’t allow him after that then he “will go to the court again”.
• It is about the women and their safety rather than any political motive, the NCW chief said, adding that the Supreme Court should take Suo Moto cognizance and make a Special Investigation Team (SIT) for probe.
• NCW Chief Rekha Sharma told CNN-News18 that not just women but girls below the age of 18 were also molested in Sandeshkhali. “Gangrape charges were added when the women went to the court, but not by the police,” Sharma added.
• Sources have said that Section 144 will be imposed in five places in Sandeshkhali. The moves comes as a bid to stop BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari from visiting the trouble-torn region.
• BJP leader Agnimitra Paul said that five of them are going to Sandeshkhali after they got permission the court. “…After the court’s permission, we don’t know whether we will be able to reach there or not because the TMC government and CM do not even follow the court order. We are hopeful that we will reach there…Union ministers came here but they were heckled and not allowed to go there,” Paul said.
• BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, with a court permission, is set to visit Sandeshkhali with five MLAs at around 11 am today.
• A court has removed the prohibitory orders under Section 144 from the trouble-torn region for the next seven days.
• National Commission for Women (NCW) chief Rekha Sharma is scheduled to hold a meeting with the West Bengal Chief Secretary and the DGP today.
• CPI(M) member and former Rajya Sabha MP Brinda Karat, along with other state and district leadership, will also visit Sandeshkhali today.
• Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea seeking transfer of investigation and subsequent trial outside West Bengal and probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or a Special Investigation Team (SIT) in connection with the alleged sexual assault of women living in Sandeshkhali.
• The NCW chief met with the women of Sandeshkhali on Monday and said that the several women shared their terrifying experiences. “In fact, one even reported being raped inside a TMC party office,” Sharma told PTI.
• NCW Chief Rekha Sharma demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and imposition of President’s Rule in the state following the unrest in Sandeshkhali.
• NCW Chief Rekha Sharma accused the Mamata-led government of attempting to suppress the voices of the women to conceal the truth and pressed on the need to arrest absconding TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh.
• West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose, who met the NCW chief after her return from Sandeshkhali, also said that a safe house has been made for women inside the Raj Bhavan. Three rooms have been kept ready for the women of Sandeshkhali.

(With PTI inputs)