Kolkata: Senior CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat was on Tuesday stopped by police from going to the restive Sandeshkhali in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district.
Karat said that she was told by a police officer that her presence in Sandeshkhali would lead to a breach of peace there.
The CPI(M) leader was stopped at Dhamakhali ferry ghat on her way to Sandeshkhali, which has been witnessing protests over allegations of sexual atrocities on women and land grab by some local Trinamool Congress leaders.
“Breach of peace occurred when women were called to the local TMC offices and subjected to sexual assault, now it is a fight for justice,” Karat told reporters at Dhamakhali.
Karat said she and some other women CPI(M) leaders wanted to meet the alleged victims of sexual assault.
“Stopping us from going to Sandeshkhali is wrong and we protest this action,” she said.
She claimed that what happened in Sandeshkhali was unprecedented..
A large number of women in Sandeshkhali had accused Trinamool Congress strongman Shajahan Sheikh and his supporters of “land-grab and sexually assaulting” them under coercion.
Shajahan has been absconding after a mob, allegedly affiliated to him, attacked Enforcement Directorate officials who had gone to search his premises in connection with a ration scam on January 5.
