Sandeshkhali sex abuse row: TMC leaders tortured tribals, snatched MNREGA wages, reveals NCST probe

The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) has found that Trinamool Congress leaderSheikh Shahjahan tortured the tribals for voting against the party while his aides forcibly took MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) wages from the families.

A three-member panel led by NCST vice-chairperson Ananta Nayak conducted the investigation that led to the startling revelations. Nayak said theWest Bengal Police allegedly "protected" Shahjahan and his accomplices from the heat emanating from the Sandeshkhali incident.

“The NCST team learned that Shahjahan would instruct poor tribal people to give him their MNREGA earnings. And in case they had already exhausted it, he would ask them to borrow money from lenders and give it to him,” said Nayak, adding that he had not seen anything like this across the country.

The probe team has returned to Delhi and is in the process of filing the final report which will be sent to the government. The panel had reportedly received more than 50 complaints of sexual harassment of tribal women and land grab by Shahjahan and his aides.

“If the victim approached the police, they would not file an FIR or a complaint and instead ask the complainants to ‘negotiate’ with Shahjahan. The police backed the accused in this case,” the NCST vice-chairperson added.

Sandeshkahli, located in the 24 North Parganas district of the state has been on the boil for the past month ever sinceallegations of 'systemic gang rape' and sexual exploitation ofwomen surfaced.

Despite multitude of sexual harassment accounts from the victims, the West Bengal police has called the sexual exploitation allegations “wilful misinformation”.

In recent days, the BJP has intensified its attacks on TMC as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee continues to play down the severity of the alleged incidents.

TMC-turned-BJP legislator Suvendu Adhikari recently visited the troubled town to take stock of the situation after receiving approval from the Calcutta High Court.

However, the Mamata administration stopped him from entering the town, leading to protest by the BJP, which later transformed into a full-blown controversy.

Last week, National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson Rekha Sharma met a few of the victims who have accused TMC leaders of sexual assault. After the conversations, Sharma said the state of West Bengal should be under the president's rule.

“Many women at Sandeshkhali were molested. I heard about two rapes. One rape case was filed today. Nothing will happen in West Bengal unless there is President’s rule,” Sharma told reporters.

The NCW chief's visit and comments triggered Mamata who accused Sharma of parroting BJP's agenda.

(With inputs from agencies)