Caste Panel Recommends 'President Rule' in Bengal; BJP Delegation Meets Guv Over Sandeshkhali Row | Top Points

In one of the major developments, the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) on Friday submitted the commission’s report on alleged harassment of women by TMC supporters in Sandeshkhali to President Droupadi Murmu. The panel in its report, recommended the imposition of President’s rule in West Bengal.

A delegation of NCSC visited Sandeshkhali on Thursday after a large number of women claimed that TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh and his supporters captured swathes of land by force and sexually harassed them.

Earlier in the day, a central team of BJP MPs as well as West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury were stopped by police on the way to restive the Sandeshkhali area.

The Bengal police restricted their movement citing prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPC, Union Minister Pratima Bhoumik said.

Sandeshkhali Violence: Here Are the Top Updates Of The Day

• The NCSC delegation submitted its report on Sandeshkhali violence on Friday and recommended the imposition of the President’s rule in West Bengal.
• NCSC Chief Arun Halder said that the TMC government and West Bengal police failed to cooperate with his team.
• A central team of BJP MPs, including two union ministers, was stopped from visiting West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali.
• A six-member fact-finding team formed by BJP chief JP Nadda was on its way to meet West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose.
• A Congress delegation headed by State Chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury was also stopped by police on the way to the restive Sandeshkhali area.
• West Bengal Congress President and MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury sat on a protest in Rampur after being denied entry to Sandeshkhali.
• “The TMC or the central government will take no step to impose the President’s rule because their only motive is politics of polarization,” said West Bengal Congress President and MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
• A PIL was filed in the Supreme Court seeking a court-monitored CBI or SIT probe into the violence in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali and compensation for victims.
• BSP supremo Mayawati on Friday voiced concern over the violence in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali and urged the Mamata Banerjee government to take “strict action against the culprits.
• “There couldn’t be a more disgusting thing than this. With women, you’re playing such a kind of game? This is unbelievable. We all do politics, but this is beyond politics,” BJP leader Mithun Chakraborty said.
• The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) issued a notice to the district administration calling for a prompt investigation into a report about a child being thrown away by miscreants in Sandeshkhali.

Protests in Sandeshkhali continued for the eighth consecutive day on Friday, with a notable presence of women demonstrators demanding the arrest of TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh and his associates.

A large number of women in the locality accused Trinamool Congress strongman Shajahan Sheikh and his supporters of “land-grab and sexually assaulting” them under coercion.

Many women in Sandeshkhali are demanding the immediate arrest of Sheikh, who has been absconding since an Enforcement Directorate (ED) team that raided his house in connection with an alleged ration scam was attacked by a mob last month.