Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Tuesday said that the BJP and a section of media like true opportunists reaped the benefits of “embargo” imposed by the Calcutta High Court on the arrest of his party’s strongman Sheikh Shahjahan in connection with Sandeshkhali incident. Banerjee also thanked the Calcutta High Court for clarifying that there was no stay on the apprehension of absconding party leader Shajahan Sheikh.
“BJP & ANTI BENGAL Media reaped the benefits of this EMBARGO like true opportunists! CHRONOLOGY: STAY given on 7th. VIOLENCE and VILIFICATION began the following day, on the 8th. With yesterday’s clarifications from Calcutta HC, I’m confident justice will soon prevail,” Banerjee posted on X while sharing the screenshots of the February 7 court order.
The Calcutta High Court on Monday directed the police to arrest Shajahan Sheikh, accused of sexual atrocities and land grab in Sandeshkhali, following which the ruling party in the state said Shahjahan would be arrested within seven days. Showing a copy of the stay order at the press conference TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh on Monday said: “One must see Para 7 of the order. It says, ‘Therefore till the appeals are heard and disposed of, orders and directions issued by learned single bench in the impugned order dated 17th January, 2024, shall remain stayed until further orders.’ Para 8 says, ‘It goes without saying that the West Bengal state police shall also be restrained from proceeding with the investigation in the cases, which have been registered by them.”
TMC MP Saket Gokhale in Delhi said: “On February 7, the Calcutta High Court had passed an order restraining police from pursuing any action against Shajahan. On February 8 onwards, BJP MLA, BJP leaders, and several national commissions started visiting Sandeshkhali. The High Court issued a clarification on Monday saying that police are free to arrest Shahjahan and the police lodged an FIR immediately. This is not Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksy’s case in that they take foreign passports and leave the country. Bengal is not ruled by the BJP. BJP is blowing up the Sandeshkhali incident to divert the attention from the fact that the Narendra Modi government stopped giving funds. PM Modi is afraid to face the people of Bengal.
Trinamool Congress MP Susmita Dev said: “BJP are talking about women. Why the 18 BJP MPs from Bengal did not take up the issue when the Centre did not clear the payments of 56 lakh MGNREGA workers and to 22.36 lakh Awas Yojana beneficiaries?”