The field inspection team from the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST), which visited the trouble-ridden Sandeshkhali in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district on Thursday, has received as many as 23 complaints from the local people there.

A member of the field inspection team, which was led by NCST Vice-Chairman Ananta Nayek, told mediapersons that the commission will submit a report on its findings to President Draupadi Murmu.

Without naming anyone, the team member said that the majority of the complaints were against a local political leader, about whom the commission will update the President.

However, the members of the team were tight-lipped about the details of the findings during their day-long inspection.

The NCST team reached Sandeshkhali on Thursday morning where they interacted with the local people, especially the women who have been protesting for over last two weeks alleging sexual harassment in the hands of a local Trinamool Congress leader and his aides.

On Wednesday, the NCST had sent notices to Chief Secretary B.P. Gopalika and acting DGP Rajeev Kumar, seeking an action taken report on the unrest in Sandeshkhali within 72 hours, or else appear personally before the commission in the national capital.

Besides NCST, four other national commissions — National Human Rights Commission, National Commission for Scheduled Castes, National Commission for Women, and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights — have intervened in the Sandeshkhali matter.

The respective chairpersons of both NCW and NCSC have recommended President’s Rule, considering the gravity of the complaints of the women from Sandeshkhali.

(This article has been published via a syndicated feed)