West Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar was injured as party workers clashed with police personnel when they were on their way to visit women who have accused Trinamool Congress leader Shajahan Sheikh and his aides of sexual abuse.

Sukanta was rushed to a hospital in Basirhat after he was fainted during a scuffle with the police, ANI reported. However, he has now been referred to Kolkata for treatment.

The development comes a day after police personnel and BJP supporters clashed in Basirhat, around 40 km from Sandeshkhali, after efforts were made to defy prohibitory orders. Sandeshkhali falls under the Basirhat police district. The clash took place as the BJP announced that its leaders would gherao the office of the Superintendent of Police, Basirhat, to protest against the situation in Sandeshkhali.

Also Read: Sandeshkhali unrest: BJP workers clash with police, cops resort to lathicharge | Video

Majumdar has been camping in the area after Sandeshkali, an area in the North 24 Parganas that made headlines owing to shocking allegations by local women against Trinamool strongman Sheikh Shahjahan and his aides. Shahjahan is on the run for a month now after an Enforcement Directorate (ED) team, which raided his home in a ration scam case, came under a mob attack.

Earlier in the day, Majumdar said, “We had come here to gherao SP office in Basirhat. We had inputs that this would be done by the police & TMC workers. We had sent a message to the district SP that some infringements will pelt stones and lathi charges will be done on BJP workers…A lot of our workers are injured and hospitalised…”

The state BJP chief and other party workers held a sit-in protest outside the police superintendent’s office in Basirhat, demanding that they be allowed to visit Sandeshkhali. The local administration has imposed prohibitory orders in the area, flagging concerns of a breach of peace.

This morning, Majumdar alleged that he had been put under “house arrest”. “I decided to stay at a lodge in Taki so that I could easily visit Sandeshkhali. But this morning, police blocked the entrance of the lodge and are not allowing me to step out,” news agency PTI quoted him as saying.

“In Sandeshkhali, TMC workers have been raping women for months now – Sheikh Shahjahan, Shibu Hajra and Uttam Sardar are raping them. We had come to the SP peacefully with the demand to arrest them. If they do not arrest them, how will the women in Sandeshkhali gain confidence?” Majumdar said on Tuesday.

Earlier, Union Minister Smriti Irani had accused the Mamata Banerjee government of shielding the local strongman. “You (Ms Banerjee) have traded the dignity of SC/ST, fishermen families and the farming communities and their women for your political benefit,” she had said.

Sandeshkhali unrest

The women protesters have claimed that Shajahan Sheikh and his aides had captured their land by force and sexually harassing women in the area.

There are also allegations of land grab by local Trinamool leaders.

Senior police officer Sumit Kumar said the situation is under control. “Section 144 was imposed in around 19 places yesterday. The public is cooperating with us and we hope everything will be normal. The state government wants to establish peace in the area, extra force has been deployed,” he said.

Meanwhile, a victim of violence against women in West Bengal’s Sandeshkhali narrated her ordeal and said, “Will we get our respect and dignity back?…The State police will never take into custody Shahjahan, Shibu, Uttam, Ranju, Sanju and others…”

Another victim said,”…We are being asked to show medical report to prove rape… How can the women of the village come forward and say they have been raped? I have not been raped but this has happened with other women…”