West Bengal violence: NCW to probe alleged molestation cases in Murshidabad
A four-member NCW inquiry committee will visit Samserganj, Jafrabad and other affected areas in Murshidabad on April 19.
The National Commission for Women (NCW) on Wednesday said it has taken “serious note” of the alleged molestation of women during last week’s large scale violence in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district when Muslims were protesting against the Waqf Amendment Act.
“This (the action) follows reports of several women enduring horrific molestation during the unrest in Mandirpara area of Dhuliyan, Murshidabad district,” the NCW said in a statement.
A four-member NCW inquiry committee, led by chairman Vijaya Rahatkar, will visit Samserganj, Jafrabad and other affected areas on April 19, the commission said.
“The violence has led to the exodus of hundreds of women, many of whom were forced to cross the Bhagirathi River in search of safety, seeking refuge in the nearby Malda district. These women have been torn from their homes, living in fear and uncertainty, facing unimaginable trauma and loss,” the statement added.
West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and NCW member Archana Majumdar and NCW deputy secretary Shivani Dey are also part of the probe committee.
The announcement was made in Delhi when Trinamool Congress chairperson and chief minister Mamata Banerjee alleged at a state-organised meeting of Muslim religious leaders in Kolkata that criminal elements from Bangladesh were allowed to enter India at the behest of some BJP leaders to engineer the riots.
One man and his son were killed by a mob, while a third man died in the crossfire with security forces during the violence that lasted over five days in Murshidabad’s Jangipur sub-division.
State BJP leaders, who brought some of the affected women before the media in Kolkata, welcomed the NCW inquiry while TMC called it “travesty of justice”.
“The BJP hatched the conspiracy, brought the hooligans and orchestrated the riots. And now, the BJP-led NCW is coming to Murshidabad to investigate the massacres BJP carried out. This is nothing but travesty of justice,” TMC state vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar claimed.
