In a shocking turn of events, one of the several women in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali has now withdrawn her complaint against TMC’s Sheikh Shahjahan alleging sexual assault and land grab.
The development comes as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probes the Sandeshkhali case at the order of the Calcutta High Court following massive uproar earlier this year where multiple women accused Trinamool Congress leader Sheikh Shahjahan and others of rape.
What did the woman say?
One of the victims of the Sandeshkhali case on Thursday claimed that she was forced to sign a white paper by people linked to the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). The paper reportedly carried a fake complaint about TMC men sexually assaulting her.
Talking to reporters, the woman, accompanied by others, claimed that they actually wanted to complain about not receiving payment for the 100 days MNREGA job scheme but were instead asked to sign a blank paper that stated they were raped.
“The day Mahila Commission had come to the police station, the same day Piyali had called us to share our complaints [with the commission]. I told them that we hadn’t received the money for the job card [MGNREGA] and cooking. We only wanted that money and had no other complaints,” the woman revealed.
“Nothing such as rape happened to us. We are not involved in those things. We are poor people and we work hard to earn a living. Mampi trapped us by getting us to sign on a white paper. We want her to be punished and want to be relieved of this issue,” she added.
It is, however, not confirmed whether the two women mentioned by the victim – Piyali and Mampi – are the same BJP-linked workers that allegedly made her sign a white paper.
The woman now has lodged a fresh complaint with the police after facing flak from the society and getting ostracised.
“We don’t want to be associated with any false complaints… nobody is even talking to us in our neighbourhood. When I asked them to rescind the false complaint, I was chased away,” the woman said.
BJP hits back
The woman’s allegations drew support from TMC which said the BJP is threatening the “courageous women of Sandeshkhali for daring to speak out against them.”
Meanwhile, the saffron party, which has fielded Rekha Patra – one of the first women who brought the issue to light – from Basirhat, has rejected the claims made by the woman and slammed the Mamata Banerjee-led government for spreading misguided information.
“Why is Trinamool responding now? Why were they quiet for two or three months? They earlier said the women (of Sandeshkhali) were lying, now they are saying they were made to lie. Whatever damage had to happen has happened. There is no smoke without fire,” BJP spokesperson Priyanka Tibrewal told NDTV.
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Sandeshkhali woman withdraws rape complaint against TMC men, says ‘BJP forced me’
