Sandeshkhali Violence Victims to Meet President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan Today

11 victims of violence including five women from West Bengal's Sandeshkhali met President Droupadi Murmu, in Rashtrapati Bhawan, today. Dr. Partha Biswas, Director of the Center for SC/ST Support and Research says, "Regarding the issue of Sandeshkhali, the victims gave a memorandum to the President of India, today. The President heard the whole matter with great sympathy and was very saddened by this. From the incident, 11 victims have come here today, out of which five are women and 6 are men."

The island village of Sandeshkhali in the North 24 Parganas district has been in the eye of the storm since January 5, when ED officers arrived to search the home of Shahjahan, a close aide of former minister Jyoti Priya Mallick, who was arrested in October last year in connection with an alleged ration distribution scam. The ED team came under attack from an angry mob, leaving three officers injured.

On February 7, other violent protests began erupting in Sandeshkhali and other nearby villages, with groups of residents led mostly by local women, alleging sexual harassment at the hands of local TMC leaders including Sheikh Shahjahan, his brother Sirajuddin, and other associates Shibaprasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar. Other villages have claimed that Shahjahan and his associates also indulged in landgrab.Shahjahan, a former TMC zila parishad leader, was arrested by the state police on the orders of the high court on February 29. The CID later took over the investigation.