The report was prepared by the rights body after it took suo motu cognisance of the allegations, and is based on a visit to the West Bengal village and conversations with alleged victims. It has been submitted to the Chief Secretary and DGP of West Bengal to submit an action-taken report, with a copy marked to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The TMC called the NHRC a “frontal organisation” of the BJP and said the report has been prepared at the party office.
The report lists Shibu Prasad Hazra, Uttam Sardar and Amir Ali Gazi, close associates of suspended TMC strongman Sheikh Shahjahan, as the main accused. The three, as well as Shahjahan, are currently under arrest.
Shahjahan first made headlines in the beginning of January when an Enforcement Directorate (ED) team, which had gone to conduct searches at his residence, came under attack by his supporters. He went on the run, and a month later, protests erupted in Sandeshkhali, with women residents alleging his associates had been sexually harassing them for years. The women said they felt confident to speak since his influence had waned.
After 55 days on the run, Shahjahan was arrested by the Bengal police on February 29. The probe into complaints has been handed to the CBI, on the directions of the Calcutta High Court.
States the NHRC report: “One of the women disclosed before the NHRC team that about a year back, she was raped two-three times by Hazra and Sardar. Even now, she is not willing to report the rape to the police out of fear of these accused persons and social stigma. She disclosed the incident to her husband, who went to the party office. But he was beaten up by the accused and, out of fear, he went to Bengaluru to earn a livelihood.”
“Another woman disclosed before the NHRC team that in the winter of 2022-2023, her husband was forcefully picked up by associates of the accused and made to work in the cold till 2 am. When she went to the party office looking for him, she was touched inappropriately… After 3-4 days, she was called to the party office and gangraped by Hazra and Gazi. The next day, she went to the police station, where she was advised to go to the accused and compromise. After the arrival of the National Commission of Women, she was able to get her case registered against the accused after a gap of more than a year,” the report states.
“One of the victims revealed that to safeguard her adolescent girls due to the unsafe environment for young women and girls, she had to send them to live with relatives in another location. It has also been brought to the notice of the team that many more (families) have sent their young girls to other places for their safety,” the report states.
“Almost every victim has told the NHRC team that the police did not respond to their complaints against Hazra, Sardar, and their associates. Shockingly, they were advised to approach the accused or their patron Shahjahan directly and seek a compromise,” it states.
It further states that women were called to the TMC office by the accused “on the pretext of party meetings and meetings of self-help groups”.
“The young and good-looking women were specifically targeted. They were taken inside the room at TMC office at Sandeshkhali and were sexually exploited/gangraped. Other women were engaged in work such as making food, cleaning the office and cleaning the ponds, etc,” the report states, adding that the women refrained from reporting the events due to the fear of TMC leaders and social stigma.
When contacted, TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said over the phone: “The report has basically been written in the BJP party office. Such organisations have now become frontal organisations of the BJP. We don’t believe in such reports.”
Bengal’s minister of state for health and family welfare, Chandrima Bhattacharya, said she “will not comment until I have seen the report”.