Murshidabad violence: NCW urges Bengal govt to address grievances of riot-hit people

Kolkata: Calling upon the West Bengal government to act urgently to address the grievances of the riot-hit people of Murshidabad district, particularly women, National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar on Sunday said the panel is preparing a report which will be submitted soon to the Centre with copies to top state officials.

Meeting reporters at a city hotel, Rahatkar said during the past two days she and other panel members came across many women, their families and children and the torture and suffering they faced was “beyond imagination, beyond words having left a deep scar in their minds” which need to be healed and addressed on an urgent basis with a humanitarian approach.

Advocating confidence-building measures by the state administration, she said “responsibility in bringing in peace lies with the state government.”

The NCW chief said the commission is preparing a report incorporating the views of all those women – who narrated their ordeal and who credited forces like BSF for saving their lives and honour. The report will be submitted to the Centre and copies to the DGP and Chief Secretary of West Bengal soon, she said.

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To a question about the women demanding BSF camp be posted in the area, she said, “Yes that is what many of them said. There is an air of fear and insecurity in the area. We will certainly incorporate their views in our report.”

Calling upon the state government “to act promptly and urgently to address the pains of these people,” she said, “Give them justice, wipe their tears, make arrangements for immediate compensation to make up for their losses (damage to households and properties and loot of belongings).”

Asking for proper security and instilling a sense of confidence among these violence-affected people, she said, “It is the moral duty of this government to do its job. They are our own people, they are daughters of the state.”

“What they went through is beyond words, they saw the houses built with their hard-earned money shattered, burnt down, they were assaulted, threatened and driven out, the women were tortured, chased away from their homes, from the villages they lived in for years. None went to meet them in all those days. They were asking me what is their fault,” she said.

Recalling her visit, the NCW chief narrated, “One young mother running for her life with her 4-day-old baby. There are incidents of newlyweds escaping from home and their every belongings looted. As a woman, I felt disturbed as we went around Murshidabad and Malda (relief camps) for two days. I tried to console them, we told them the entire country is with you. Their mind is shattered and we told them not to lose their mental strength.”

About the allegations by TMC leaders that the commission is acting at the behest of the BJP government at the Centre and why didn’t it go to Manipur and BJP-ruled states when there were reports of atrocities in those areas in past, Rahatkar said, “All I will say is I don’t want to do politics. I came to be on the side of tortured sisters.”

Urging those who make such comments to “not divert from the main issue,” she added, “Why don’t these critics themselves met those women and stand with them to feel their agony? What they felt, aren’t they our own people?”

“Why don’t these critics try to find the answer about why this (the attacks) happened? You understand their pain,” she said.

She wondered why the State Women’s Commission has not yet visited the area. “Please meet the mother who lost her husband and son. Show sympathy,” she said.

Advocating confidence building measures by the state administration, she said, “The responsibility in bringing in peace lies with the state government.”

On Saturday during her visit to Betbari, Dhulian, Zafrabad and other riot-hit parts in Murshidabad, Rahatkar said, “I was dumbfounded by the agony these women are having to suffer. What they went through during the violence is beyond imagination.”

The villagers were seen holding placards that displayed messages – “We don’t want Lakshmir Bhandar, we want BSF camp. We want security”.

On Friday, the NCW team visited relief camps in Malda’s Baishnabnagar, sheltering the displaced riot affected people of adjacent Murshidabad district.

The NCW had earlier taken suo motu cognisance of the violence that broke out in Shamsherganj, Suti, Dhulian, and Jangipur areas of Murshidabad on April 11 and 12.

Three people were killed and hundreds rendered homeless during the clashes, which occurred in Muslim-majority areas, amid protests against Waqf (Amendment) Act.

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