Nat’l ST Commission seeks report from Chef Secy in 72 hours

Kolkata: The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) has sought reports from Bengal Chief Secretary BP Gopalika and Director General of Police (DGP) Rajeev Kumar on the ongoing crisis at Sandeshkhali in North 24-Parganas.

In a letter to the Chief Secretary and DGP, the NCST stated that the state has to submit a detailed report on the Sandeshkhali crisis within the next 72 hours failure to which both the officials will have to personally appear in front of the commission at New Delhi. The commission has sought the details of the action taken by the Bengal government over complaints of sexual harassment. The NCST has also told the state secretariat that an inspection team of the commission will visit Sandeshkhali on Thursday.

NCST is the fourth central commission after the National Commission of Scheduled Castes (NCSC), National Commission for Women (NCW) and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) which have directly intervened in the Sandeshkhali incident. Incidentally, the NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma after visiting Sandeshkhali and interacting with victim women, had observed that President’s Rule is the alternative considering the kind of atrocities, violence and sexual harassment.