SENIOR BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, who arrived in Sandeshkhali in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district on Tuesday afternoon after getting permission from the Calcutta High Court, described the situation in the strife-torn area as “horrific” and a “clear example of anarchy”. Adhikari, along with another BJP MLA Sankar Ghosh, spoke to the locals, including women, who narrated their “spine-chilling” experiences endured at the hands of local TMC leaders, including absconding Shahjahan Sheikh. The BJP leaders were welcomed by locals, including women, after they reached Sandeshkhali by crossing the Kalindi River on a boat from Dhamakhali. “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. Adhikari, who was once a close confidante of the then Opposition leader Mamata Banerjee during the days of the anti-land acquisition movement in Nandigram in 2007-08, was seen visiting houses and speaking to locals in Sandeshkhali. He switched over to the BJP ahead of the 2021 Assembly polls.

 

Earlier in the day, police had stopped the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly from visiting Sandeshkhali, citing the imposition of prohibitory orders and the State Government moving the division bench against a single bench order on Monday allowing Adhikari to visit the trouble-torn area. NHRC notice to WB Police chief over journalist’s ‘detention’: THE NHRC has sent a notice to the West Bengal’s police chief over a complaint alleging that a journalist covering the Sandeshkhali issue was “unlawfully detained,” officials said on Tuesday. The National Human Rights Commission in a statement said the allegations raise a serious issue of violation of human rights and also restriction on the freedom of the press. The NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of the complaint that the journalist of a TV channel was “unlawfully detained” while covering crimes against women in Sandeshkhali, West Bengal on February 19, it said in a statement. CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat allowed to visit Sandeshkhali: SENIOR CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat was on Tuesday allowed to visit the restive Sandeshkhali in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district after being initially stopped by police.

 

Karat, who said that she was stopped at Dhamakhali ferry ghat by the police saying that they apprehended breach of peace if she went to Sandeshkhali, was later allowed to visit the protests-hit area by the police. “Breach of peace occurred when women were called to the local Trinamool Congress offices and subjected to sexual assault, now it is a fight for justice,” Karat told reporters at Dhamakhali, from where one has to cross Kalagachi river to reach Sandeshkhali. Karat who said that she and some other women CPI(M) leaders wanted to meet the alleged victims of sexual assault, later spoke to some women there. She claimed that what happened in Sandeshkhali was unprecedented. The Editors Guild of India on Tuesday termed as “worrisome” the arrest of an on-duty television journalist by the West Bengal Police. In a statement here, the Guild said the journalist -- Santu Pan -- was reporting live on television when he was whisked away by policemen. Pan, a journalist with Republic Bangla, was arrested from Sandeshkhali in West Bengal on Monday late evening. “His arrest while on duty is worrisome,” the Guild said. The statement said the police should certainly investigate if allegations have been levelled against the journalist but to take him away while he was reporting is indeed a cause for concern.