Message from Sandeshkhali

A leafy hamlet some 75 km from Kolkata and generously speckled with fish ponds, Sandeshkhali has been on the boil since February 8. Roiled by allegations of ghastly, systematic crimes against women, it has emerged as the latest flashpoint in the state, with the opposition BJP-from its state unit to the party high-command-tearing into the Trinamool Congress (TMC).

- Arkamoy Datta Majumdar

The island of Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district, one of the gateways to the Sundarbans mangrove forests, first drew national attention when officials of the Enforcement Directorate were heckled by villagers when they went to question local TMC strongman Sheikh Shahjahan about a PDS scam on January 5. The tables have now turned on Shahjahan-who has been absconding since the ED raid-as women from the neighbourhood took to the streets, demanding the arrest of Sibaprasad alias Sibu

Hazra and Uttam Sardar, two of his close aides. Soon, horrific experiences of the unspeakable terror of regularised sexual abuse and torture, land grab and police inaction started pouring in from agitating women, who mostly belong to the tribal communities. On February 9, angry villagers set fire to the properties of local TMC leaders. The party soon took a series of remedial measures. Uttam, by now a liability, was suspended from the TMC for six years on February 10 and arrested by the local police, while Sibu has followed in the footsteps of his overlord Shahjahan and is untraceable.

Meanwhile, with the Opposition turning on the heat amidst unabating protests, the police arrested Vikas Singh, the convenor of BJP's Basirhat Lok Sabha constituencyunder which Sandeshkhali falls-and Nirapada Sardar, former CPI(M) MLA of Sandeshkhali, on February 11 on charges of rioting and unlawful assembly. The previous day, the administration had imposed Section 144-prohibiting public gatheringand shut down internet services.