Finally, the dreaded Shahjahan was arrested. After much cajoling by the High Court of Bengal, Bengal police has finally arrested him. Such things are happening in this country today which is not only incomprehensible but also shameful. After protests had started in Sandeshkhali of Basirhat, Bengal, police tried to obfuscate their duties. Local people were demanding the arrest of dreaded gangster Shahjahan Shaikh and his men. But, as was expected, Mamta Banerjee’s government tried to shield him from the clutches of law. Even now, after arrest, the manner in which he came to the court showed his influence and clout.But the long hands of law has finally got hold of him and he is behind the bars.
Sandeshkhali, 73 km from the center of Calcutta, has been in the news since January 5, when an Enforcement Directorate team raiding Shahjahan's house to investigate allegations of corruption in ration distribution was attacked by a mob of about 200 men and women and Beat them. On January 5, their cars were vandalized and forced to flee. At least three ED officers and several journalists who were chasing the raid team were injured in the violence in Sarberia village of Sandeshkhali block. Since then Shahjahan remained absconded.
Angry villagers clashed with the police on February 8, saying that for many years Shahjahan and his associates ruled Sandeshkhali with the help of the police. Angry villagers attacked the houses of Trinamool leaders Shiba Prasad and Uttam. They set their properties on fire, causing panic among ruling party workers, who were also beaten and forced to flee. “It is the police that helped the goons rule Sandeshkhali. We are living in fear because of the activities of Shahjahan and his men. His oppression had crossed all limits. They tested our patience and now it's our turn to respond. Either the police arrest them or they will have to face the consequences,” a villager, who is believed to be a Trinamool supporter but is involved in the movement, told reporters.
He alleged that many criminals like Shahjahan were given protection by the ruling party. One woman said: “The ruling party goons grabbed the land of many of us. They beat up our men when they protested and forced our school-going boys to attend political rallies and insulted the dignity of women. They did all this with the connivance of the police and the police did not register our complaints.
In a way, this incident is a common occurrence in the Laluraj days of Bihar and Bengal, but what should shock our collective conscience is how Shahjahan and his men used to kill young, good-looking, married women. They would kidnap them from their homes, exploit them through the night and send them back only when they were 'satisfied'... They were kept in the TMC party office and sent back at dawn. Shah Jahan raised only Hindu women, never Muslim ones, if these unfortunate women are to be believed.
Hindu women in Bengal under Mamata Banerjee's rule are easy prey for Muslim men like Sheikh Shahjahan, because she has mortgaged her sensibilities as a woman in exchange for Muslim votes. She is as much a criminal as Shahjahan. Sheikh Shahjahan remained absconded for almost a month after his men attacked ED officials who were in Sandesakhali to investigate the multi-crore rupee ration scam. That man is a terrorist but he had the protection of Mamata Banerjee. Otherwise there is no reason why he would not have been arrested by now. Now that serious allegations of rape and illegal imprisonment have surfaced, it became impossible for Mamata Banerjee to defend the culprit. Even the High Court of Bengal has reprimanded the government for not arresting the accused even after so much brouhaha over the issue.
There is one more news coming from Bengal. A petitioner has expressed concern over the plight of women prisoners lodged in the jails of West Bengal. In a writ petition, an amicus curiae informed the Calcutta High Court about the issue of female prisoners becoming pregnant while in custody and pointed out that 196 children are living in various jails of West Bengal. Advocate Tapas Kumar Bhanja, who was appointed amicus curiae by the court in the 2018 suo motu motion on overcrowding in jails, made the submissions before a division bench of Calcutta HC Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Supratim Bhattacharya on Thursday.
Now think, this condition is there in those jails which come under the Bengal government. Where those women are completing their sentences or their petitions are going on in the court, this adultery happens with them. Isn't this tarnishing humanity? How are they getting pregnant while being inside the jail? How they are being treated, despite the Chief Minister of that state herself being a woman. Mamata Banerjee should bow her head in shame. She is a disgrace not only as a woman chief minister but also as a human being.
The question also arises about the deafening silence of the woke intellectuals of this country. India's woke intellectuals are a rare species. They pretend to cry over a variety of pointless causes, and occasionally they frantically search social media for "issues" to keep themselves in the spotlight. For some, advocating for the “rights” of individuals such as Mahua Moitra represents the epitome of feminism. They interpret any action taken against a member of parliament for transgressing parliamentary rules and codes of conduct and engaging in corrupt practises as part of a patriarchal conspiracy. However, Ms. Moitra is not the only member of the awakened intellectual brigade who has feminism worries. The woke lobby is quite selective when it comes to denouncing heinous crimes of sexual violence against women.
The heartbreaking stories of the Hindu women of Sandeshkhali are now available to the world after first going viral on social media as videos. Sandeskhali has also become a topic of extensive coverage in the mainstream media. Despite this, not a single word of condemnation has been spoken by any of the celebrity and woke intellectual community about what is arguably one of the most systematic, cold-blooded, and ongoing acts of systemic violence against women by the state.
The majority of the women in question are members of the Scheduled Castes community, which is another noteworthy aspect. However, there is an odd silence from the "intellectual lobby," which is purportedly typically at the forefront when it comes to discussing the rights of marginalised groups. For what reason do they not speak? Speaking up on these issues isn't part of their woke toolset, simply because West Bengal isn't a state ruled by the BJP.
Several media sources state that no formal complaint has been filed against the offenders as of yet. The TMC spokespersons are adamant that no woman has filed a formal complaint and that the BJP is behind this in an attempt to discredit them. The ladies, however, had more to say. According to the women's testimony in multiple media stories, they are being questioned for evidence of rape and informed that a FIR cannot be filed because there isn't any. This is completely unusual and strange. A formal complaint must be filed in a rape case using only the testimony of women. The inquiry and court trial are the first steps in the process of proving the charges. How, though, can the police decline to file a formal complaint due to a lack of proof? How can the West Bengal Police not even file a First Information Report (FIR) when a large number of women have testified in recordings, numerous news networks in India have interviewed these ladies, and the accused is already a criminal with numerous prior cases against him?
But now that the issue is widely publicised, the TMC is unable to control it, despite its best efforts to hide the atrocities and, in true woke fashion, try to distance itself from the situation by branding it a "RSS conspiracy." According to the most recent news reports, President Droupadi Murmu has received the report from a delegation of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, which visited Sandeshkhali to look into the allegations of rape and sexual abuse made by these ladies. Sandeshkhali was reportedly visited by the NCSC delegation. According to a number of media sources, the NCSC's report to President Draupadi Murmu suggested that West Bengal be placed under President's Rule.
A six-person BJP delegation was established to look into the Sandeshkhali tragedy. But the BJP President JP Nadda's group was prevented from going to Sandeshkhali, the location of the protesting women complainants. According to several media reports, the National Commission for Women (NCW) stated in its fact-finding report that it had received unsettling testimonials from women of pervasive fear and deliberate abuse by police officers, Trinamool Congress members, and other law enforcement personnel. According to reports, an NCW team went to Sandeshkhali to evaluate the steps taken by the local government in response to the village women's accusations of sexual assault, violence, and intimidation against the partners of local TMC leaders.
Media in Conjunction with TMC
The West Bengal government has been downplaying the claims since the Hindu women's testimony from Sandeshkhali went viral on social media, claiming that it is all part of a plan by the RSS and the BJP. The West Bengal government has regularly enforced Section 144 in Sandeshkhali, threatening people and attempting to quiet the voices of these unfortunate ladies, instead of filing First Information Reports (FIRs) and responding to their complaints.
Just a few days ago, it appeared that no mainstream media outlet was willing to cover the Sandeshkhali violence story. The incident didn't come to light until West Bengal BJP Chief Sukanta Majumdar was admitted to the hospital following improper treatment by the West Bengal Police. Even now, the mainstream media downplays the gravity of the Sandeshkhali tragedies by underplaying the specifics of the accusations made by women, despite covering the events truthfully.
The women in Sandeshkhali have accused Trinamool Congress Leader Shajahan Sheikh and his supporters of engaging in "land grab and sexual assault," according to most news reports. However, these reports conveniently omit the specifics of the women's accusations, which involve the TMC machinery running a sustained sexual abuse operation that involves forcibly removing them from their homes over an extended period of time and taking them to local TMC offices where they would be repeatedly violated and raped. This is undoubtedly far more horrific than what is reported in the media.
It is shocking that not a single "celebrity" or "intellectual" has come out in support of these women, or at least not made a statement asking the West Bengal government to be compassionate and allow these women to file a First Information Report and let the law take its course. This is despite the fact that there are a tonne of testimonies of Sandeshkhali women floating around on social media and news channels. The deluge of woke activists, sympathetic to every cause from the war in Russia and Ukraine to the plight of women wrestlers who accused MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexual harassment, observe stoic silence when it comes to denouncing horrific atrocities allegedly committed on countless helpless village women in West Bengal.
How easy is it for the woke lobby to brazenly exhibit double standards? They seem to be experts in acting so cynically. They throw open their hearts, crying and staging candlelit marches for every cause under the sun, but when it comes to a real problem that affects a real number of poor women in India, they prefer to keep quiet because it doesn't suit their political narrative. Women's testimony is suddenly viewed with suspicion, as though the burden of establishing rape allegations should be with the woman rather than with the accused.
The woke lobby did feminism a major disservice by responding to the Sandeshkhali event in a callous and indifferent manner. The woke lobby presents itself as the champion of women's rights and issues, but it keeps its head in the sand when it comes to speaking out against the state apparatus's systematic exploitation and abuse of women from low-income backgrounds in the West Bengal state of Bharatiya.
By NILABH KRISHNA
(The content of this article reflects the views of writers and contributors, not necessarily those of the publisher and editor. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts and forums in Delhi/New Delhi only)
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