Sandeshkhali unrest: Cooperate with CBI probe, Calcutta HC orders West Bengal government
The court also permitted the National Human Rights Commission to be added as a party to the case.
The Calcutta High Court on Thursday directed the West Bengal government to cooperate with the Central Bureau of Investigation, which is looking into allegations of land grabbing and sexual harassment against suspended Trinamool Congress leader Shahjahan Sheikh in the Sandeshkhali village, Bar and Bench reported.
A bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya also permitted the National Human Rights Commission to be added as a party to the case, PTI reported.
On January 5, Enforcement Directorate officials were allegedly attacked at Sandeshkhali in the state’s North 24 Parganas district when they were carrying out raids at Sheikh’s house in connection with an alleged ration distribution scam.
A mob allegedly attacked the Enforcement Directorate officials with stones, bricks and batons.
Following this, several local women accused Sheikh and his associates, Shiba Prasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar, of torturing and sexually harassing them for several years, and also of grabbing their lands for prawn cultivation.
Sheikh was arrested by the police on February 29, Hazra on February 17 and Sardar on February 11.
Subsequently, the High Court had directed the Central Bureau of Investigation to take up the matter after hearing public interest litigations seeking an independent probe into the allegations.
On Thursday, the bench noted the central agency’s submission that the state government had not been cooperating with its verification...
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