GUV SAYS SHATTERED BY SANDESHKHALI INCIDENT

After days of continuous protests by women in Sandeshkhali in West Bengal's North 24-Parganas district to protest sexual exploitation and torture by Trinamool Congress leaders, West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose on Monday visited the trouble-spots and met the women.

- 

After hearing their complaints, he said he was "shocked and shattered" by the events there.

On the other hand, BJP's Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and 60 MLAs of the party were stopped from visiting the unrest-hit area by a huge police force which blocked the only access roads with police vans. The police cited the imposition of prohibitory orders under section 144 in Sandeshkhali. The bus carrying the BJP legislators was stopped in Kolkata itself even though Sandeshkhali is 75 km away.

A large number of women in Sandeshkhali met the Governor and alleged that Trinamool Congress' local strongman Shajahan Sheikh and his supporters sexually assaulted them on a regular basis and that the exploitation had been going on for the past 12 years.

The local women - most of whom belong to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities have been holding demonstrations since last week against panchayat zilla parishad members Shiba Prasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar who are key Trinamool leaders in the region.

Sheikh has been absconding since last month after a team of the Enforcement Directorate that went to raid his house in connection with an alleged ration scam was beaten up by a mob of his supporters.