BJP women leaders stopped on way to Sandeshkhali, detained

Following a scuffle and a bitter war of words with the police, the BJP team was detained even as the leaders were seen holding a sit-in demonstration at the site they were stopped.

Kolkata: BJP women leaders led by party state general secretaries Agnimitra Paul and Locket Chatterjee were stopped by the West Bengal Police at New Town on the outskirts of Kolkata from heading towards Sandeshkhali on Thursday afternoon.

Following a scuffle and a bitter war of words with the police, the team was detained even as the leaders were seen holding a sit-in demonstration at the site they were stopped.

The leaders alleged they were being prevented from heading towards the trouble-torn area on grounds that the prohibitory Section of 144 of CrPC remained clamped in certain parts of Sandeshkhali.

"This is absolutely outrageous. How can the police stop us in Kolkata citing movement restrictions in Sandeshkhali?" said Bharati Ghosh, a former IPS officer and a member of the BJP team.

Paul, the Asansol South MLA, said that the team only intended to visit areas in Sandeshkhali which remained outside the ambit of the prohibitory section. "Is section 144 imposed in Kolkata? On what grounds can the police stop our movement here?" she asked.

The police and the TMC still have a lot to hide in Sandeshkhali even though a lot of the atrocities committed there have already been exposed, Chatterjee, an MP from Hooghly, maintained. BJP leader Falguni Patra was also part of the team.

"We merely wanted to be on the side of the tormented women in Sandeshkhali who are still reeling under fear since musclemen of Shahjahan Sheikh are still at large and police are doing little to address their concerns," she added.

When Chatterjee was asked to board a police van along with other women leaders, she entered into an altercation with the police officer present there.

"Look at the way they are treating a woman MP," Chatterjee said, before being whisked away in the van to the state police headquarters at Lalbazar.

Last week too, she was stopped at Bhojerhat while heading towards Sandeshkhali.

TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said BJP leaders were trying to instigate people in the area and not allowing normalcy to return.

"Police are doing their job. The situation is normal at Sandeshkhali," he said.