KOLKATA: Strife-hit Sandeshkhali witnessed dramatic scenes on Wednesday as BJP state chief Sukanta Majumdar offered prayers to goddess Saraswati on the banks of the Ichamati river in Taki, North 24 Parganas, and fainted during a scuffle with police when he tried to visit women who accused local leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress of sexual abuse.Majumdar was rushed to a local hospital in an unconscious state from where he was brought to a private hospital in Kolkata.A day after the Calcutta High Court set aside the state government’s promulgation of prohibitory order in Sandeshkhali, the district administration again on Wednesday clamped restrictions on movement under Section 144 of CrPC in 19 pockets of the area. Setting aside the earlier order, the high court on Tuesday mentioned in its order that the manner in which the restrictions were imposed was not right.Majumdar on Tuesday dodged the state administration’s effort to intercept him and arrived Basirhat, where the trouble-hit area is located, by boarding a local train. He staged a sit-in-demonstration in front of the office of the superintendent of police demanding release of BJP supporters who were arrested during the course of a skirmish with police. As the police did not respond, Majumdar spent the night in a local hotel. The unrest in the TMC’s stronghold in North 24 Parganas stemmed from the ongoing agitation by women in Sandeshkhali, who accused TMC strongman Shahjahan Sheikh and his men of sexual abuse.Sandeshkhali turned into the epicentre of Bengal politics after three officers of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) were bashed up and left bleeding when they went to search Shahjahan Sheikh’s house in a foodgrain scam case on January 5. After the TMC leader and his men went into hiding following the attack on the federal agency, homemakers of the area mustered up the courage to protest against the sexual abuse allegedly by the ruling party’s satraps.Majumdar, accompanied by one of the BJP’s general secretaries Jagannath Chattopadhyay, left his hotel through the rear entrance on Wednesday morning hoodwinking policemen guarding the establishment’s front gate. After offering prayers, when he and other BJP activists started proceeding, the police arrived and intervened.During the scuffle with police, Majumdar jumped on the bonnet of a vehicle. When the police tried to drag him down, Majumdar fell off and fainted. The BJP leader’s security guard first boarded him in his vehicle but later he was shifted to a police vehicle and rushed to the Basirhat multi-speciality hospital.Majumdar was put on oxygen support and doctors kept monitoring his blood pressure and other parameters of his health. He regained his consciousness after an hour.Majumdar’s condition was said to be stable by doctors at the private hospital in Kolkata where was shifted from Basirhat.Hitting out at the TMC, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia accused the chief minister of providing refuge for the perpetrators of the crime against women in Sandeshkhali. “Bengal is no longer a safe place for women. Mamata Banerjee should resign,” he said. The police administration in Basirhat made all arrangements to restrict movement of political parties towards the 19 places where prohibitory orders under section 144 of CrPC were clamped on Wednesday for an indefinite period. On Tuesday, the high court set aside the state government’s earlier order clamping the CrPC’s provision mentioning the promulgation did not specify the areas where the restrictions were in place.
Source link
