Sandeshkhali
Bengal: Sandeshkhali protest against TMC's Sheikh Shahjahan turns violent, sec 144 imposed, internet snapped
Kolkata/IBNS: Internet services have been snapped and an assembly of more than four people have been banned in West Bengal's Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas after a protest against absconding Trinamool Congress leader Sheikh Shahjahan and his aides turns violent, media reports said.
On Friday, a huge group of women with sticks and brooms in their hands held protest rallies in various parts of Sandeshkhali demanding Shahjahan's arrest.
They even clashed with police, turning the situation intense.
Shahjahan's aide Shiboprosad Hazra's house was vandalised, his furniture was set ablaze and his poultry farm in Zelia Khali was also set on fire, reports said.
#WATCH | North 24 Parganas, West Bengal | Poultry and fish farms set on fire allegedly by villagers in Sandeshkhali. These farms were built on the land reportedly forcibly occupied by a TMC worker and his aide. pic.twitter.com/7UklYBrUNL
— ANI (@ANI) February 9, 2024
Police arrested eight people in connection with the vandalisation.
The protesting women have alleged Shahjahan and his aides captured several lands forcefully and sexually harassed them.
"We may have remained hungry but at least we had peace about ten years ago. Now we have no peace in the locality," says a protesting woman speaking to a local news channel.
Photo courtesy: Screenshot grab from X video
Not acknowledging the incident as a mass protest, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said, "CPI-M, BJP and Congress are trying to create unrest in the locality. The protest has no connection with common people in the area. The protesters are speaking in the language of CPI-M and BJP."
BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya, "This is the outburst of pent-up public anger. This will escalate and spread to 16 areas of Sandeshkhali.. This is not a reaction to what is happening in recent times but to the torture of Shahjahan and his aides for a decade."
When ED officials reached Shahjahan's house to quiz him in connection with the ration scam, they were attacked, beaten up and forced to flee abandoning their raids by a section of activists from the ruling party.
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