Addressing mediapersons, Deputy Inspector General (Barasat range) Sumit Kumar said that a 10-member team headed by a DIG-rank woman officer has been formed to look into the complaints of women in Sandeshkhali. The team will visit Sandeshkhali and speak to women who were allegedly at the receiving end of the atrocities of local TMC leaders.

“If anyone has any grievances, they should come forward and lodge a written complaint with the local police or the Superintendent of Police (SP) office. Based on such complaints, an inquiry will be carried out. An SP-rank woman officer visited the area and interacted with women after taking them into confidence. As a result, we received four written complaints from them (women) till this morning. But none of them were rape complaints,” said Kumar.

Kumar further said, “There is also no communal angle in the complaints we have received. The state government has formed a 10-member team which will start work from tomorrow. The team will visit the areas, interact with women, and conduct a thorough inquiry. The government is serious about such complaints. We will request the villagers to talk to our teams. We will take strong legal action whenever we get written complaints from them.”

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani said on Monday that “Hindu” women belonging to lower castes and fishermen and farming communities in Sandeshkhali told local journalists that they were “raped” regularly by TMC workers owing allegiance to Sheikh Shahjahan.

“From Sandeshkhali, women… have said that TMC men come to their homes to check which woman is beautiful and young. The women of Sandeshkhali and their husbands have told journalists that local TMC men boast that Hindu women’s husbands would be husbands only in name, but won’t have any rights (on their wives)… Sandeshkhali women are crying out for help,” Irani said.

Meanwhile, a team of the West Bengal Women’s Commission visited Sandeshkhali and interacted with the women residents. “We have received complaints from women… So far, we have not come across any complaints of sexual harassment. They have said that they were asked to attend party meetings at the drop of a hat and even at night. They also complained that the police did not address their complaints. We will definitely look into this,” said commission chairperson Leena Gangopadhyay.