West Bengal: Police arrest members of independent fact-finding team on way to Sandeshkhali

The panel, led by a former chief justice of the Patna High Court, was stopped even as a Trinamool Congress delegation visited the village.

Feb 26, 2024 - 07:00

West Bengal: Police arrest members of independent fact-finding team on way to Sandeshkhali

The West Bengal Police on Sunday arrested and later released six members of an independent fact-finding committee who were going to Sandeshkhali, The Indian Express reported.

The committee is led by L Narasimha Reddy, the former chief justice of the Patna High Court.

The Sandeshkhali village in the North 24 Parganas district has been at the centre of a political row for nearly a month. There have been protests by women in the village alleging sexual assault and land grabbing by Trinamool Congress leader Shahjahan Sheikh.

Prohibitory orders have been imposed in the village under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

On Sunday, senior police officers stopped the convoy of the independent fact-finding team 52 kms from the village.

Reddy, accompanied by former Indian Police Service officer Raj Pal Singh, former National Commission for Women member Charu Wali Khanna, advocates OP Vyas and Bhavna Bajaj, and journalist Sanjeev Nayak tried to defy the police and go to the village.

Following this, the group was detained and taken to the Kolkata Police headquarters, before being released.

“This is completely illegal,” PTI quoted Reddy as saying. “We have told the police personnel [that] as law-abiding citizens, we will not break rules. No curfew has been imposed in Sandeshkhali. So we can go in two groups.”

He added: “At least two...