Sandeshkhali women withdraw rape complaint
A woman and her mother-in-law retracted their rape complaint against Trinamool Congress politicians in Sandeshkhali, West Bengal claiming that they were forced into signing a “white paper” by the National Commission for Women.
This comes a few days after a BJP employee was shown on a purported video saying the party was involved in the Sandeshkhali incident, which surfaced on social media.
Speaking to the media, the woman described how “Delhi’s Mahila Commission” ordered her and her mother-in-law to fabricate rape charges, even though they had no idea what the reports contained.
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The woman decided to file a fresh complaint against the TMC officials, and as a result, she was threatened and shunned, according to her new police complaint.
The women said that they were asked to sign a fictitious complaint at the residence of a local BJP Mahila Morcha functionary and other party members.
The woman and her mother-in-law recorded their statement before the magistrate, “We don’t want to be connected to any false complaints—no one in our neighborhood is even corresponding with us. They chased me away when I urged them to retract the fake allegation.”
The woman said that two women, Piyali Das and Mampi Das arrived their house one day, , and brought her mother-in-law to the police station.
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“After she went to the police station, the gate was locked from inside. My mother-in-law only said that she had yet to get her dues for cooking as part of the 100 days’ job scheme. She was then made to sign a white paper. We did not know about the cases,” the woman said.
The woman added that she later learned that local Trinamool leaders had included her and her mother-in-law on a list of women who had accused rape.
“We did not experience anything like that. False accusations that were prearranged. We would prefer not to be connected to any unfounded complaints,” she further said.
The event occurs at a time when the Bengal administration led by Mamata Banerjee is being targeted by the BJP, which has escalated the Sandeshkhali issue in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.
Earlier this year, Sandeshkhali gained national attention when a number of women staged large-scale demonstrations against Trinamool leader Shahjahan Sheikh and his associates, alleging that they were engaging in sexual harassment and land grabs.
