Amid an ongoing row over Sandeshkhali violence, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla on Saturday claimed a fresh rape incident in Malda district and said "No woman safe in Bengal". In a blistering attack on the ruling Trinamool Congress, the BJP leader said rapists are being protected and those who speak up against it are arrested.

"In another case of brutal rape and murder, a class ninth student, a Tribal, was found lifeless with face smashed, in a brick kiln in Bhabuk village of Old Malda Assembly," Poonawalla claimed in a post on X. "This is not the first such case in Malda. Recently a half-naked body of a 25-year-old was found after rape & murder," the BJP leader mentioned in the post. He further claimed that many such instances are taking place in West Bengal.

Meanwhile, a TMC delegation arrived in Sandeshkhali to meet the locals."We have come here to take stock of the situation. Some work is ongoing in connection with an incident of arson. We are here to oversee it and will brief you more after the visit," TMC leader and West Bengal minister Sujit Bose said, as quoted by news agency ANI.

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Earlier in the day, Minakshi Mukherjee, the leader of CPI(M), also paid a visit to the victims at Sandeskhali in North 24 Parganas. However, she claimed that the police had stopped her from going any farther in the district, where complaints similar to Sandeshkhali have surfaced.

Sandeshkhali has been on the boil for a few days as a section of women have accused Trinamool Congress strongman Shajahan Sheikh and his supporters of "land-grab and sexually assaulting" them. Women in the region have been protesting and seeking justice against alleged atrocities committed by TMC leader Sheikh Shahjahan and his aides. Shahjahan continues to evade arrest, with both state police and central agencies unable to trace him.

Considering the gravity of the situation, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) team visited Sandeshkhali to ascertain facts through a "spot- inquiry" into the incidents of violence in the North 24 Parganas district and meet the victims. The Commission has observed that the recent incidents in Sandeshkhali indicate a prima facie violation of human rights, shocking the conscience.

(With ANI Inputs)


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