Addressing a press conference in Kolkata, TMC minister Shashi Panja said, “We all saw in a viral video how the BJP had planned and orchestrated the entire Sandeshkhali fiasco. Now, the women in the region are being threatened by BJP leaders for expressing their willingness to withdraw the false complaints.”
Panja was referring to a purported video featuring a BJP leader who claimed that women had filed sexual harassment complaints at the behest of BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari. “It is so shameful on the part of the BJP. Not only they defamed the women, but also tarnished the reputation of the entire West Bengal,” the TMC minister said and shared a video in which a woman is heard saying that she wanted to withdraw the rape charge since it was a false allegation.
In the video, the woman claims that a false rape complaint was filed with the police. She claimed that she was made to sign on a blank paper by two local BJP workers — Mampi Das and Piyali Das – which was turned into a rape complaint. The woman says in the video that she wanted to file a complaint about non-payment of her dues and not the rape charge. Meanwhile, Piyali Das denied the charges made in the new video. “She (the woman in the video) went to the police station with Rekha Patra and lodged a complaint. She might be thinking of withdrawing the case due to pressure. It is false that anyone was made to sign a blank paper. The police station has CCTV. Let everyone see it. TMC workers are bribing the women to tell these things. If I am found guilty, then I will take whatever punishment the law provides. If not, they will have to face defamation cases,” she said.
BJP MP Samik Bhattacharya also denied the TMC’s charge. “It is the BJP which is fighting for the rights of women. Why would the BJP threaten the women of Sandeshkhali? It is because TMC has sensed that the atrocities in Sandeshkhali would cost them this election, they are levelling baseless allegations,” Bhattacharya said.
Sandeshkhali saw widespread protests in February as residents accused TMC strongman Shahjahan Sheikh and his aides of land grabbing and sexually harassing local women. Sheikh, who was on the run for 55 days after his supporters attacked an Enforcement Directorate (ED) out to search his Sandeshkhali home in connection with a ration scam, was arrested on February 29.