Entire family arrested and driven out of home in Muslim majority village for opposing sexual harassment
Mrittika
(name changed), student of Class XII at Khaiberia Vivekananda Vidyapith, and
living in village: Mithapukur, P.O. Buita, P.S. Budge Budge District: 24
Paraganas (South) didn’t imagine ever that her lone protest against sexual
harassments by Amirul Sheikh, embroiderer by profession (s/o Sheikh Haidar Ali
– worker in a nearby manufacturing plant), would bring a disaster on her whole
family.
Amirul
Shiekh, to be precise, was hell-bent to take hold of Mrittika at any cost and
with this end in view, he used to proffer marriage proposals to the Hindu girl
for all time. Mrittika, badly shaken, used to reject the offer at each time.
On June 11,
2013, Amriul Sheikh went to the residence of Mrittika all alone to take her
away. Family members of Mrittika, stunned at this audacious approach of his,
asked people in the neighborhood to deal with the issue. Leaders of both communities
assembled in the residence of Sukhendu Bikash Sardar (father of Mrittika) and
made a truce. It is to be noted, Mithapukur is a Muslim dominated village
containing 8 Hindu households only.
Contrary
to the expectation, a band of toughs, belonging to the Muslim community, attacked the residence of
Mrittika on the following day, June 12, 2013 at 9 pm with full might. It became
impossible for the family to resist them and had no way but suffer the
devastation. The adjoining houses, belonging to their in-laws, couldn’t help
them as well.
The
assault went for hours. Sardar family, at last, could contact Khokon Naskar,
husband of Tamasha – elder sister of Mrittika. And owing to his insistence a
large police contingent went to Mrittika’s residence and brought the entire
family out of the residence safely.
But
another surprise was awaiting them in the police station. Once the Sardar
family stepped into the police station, they were taken into custody! When the stupefied
Sardar family asked the reason behind it, they were told Amirul Sheikh had
lodged an official complaint against the Sardar family on June 12, 2013 in the
morning. Hence, the entire family was booked under Case No. 213/13 dtd June 12,
2013 u/s 326, 341, 225, 34.
The
question remains why Amirul Sheikh acted thus. Further investigations confirm
that Amriul was never in a position to
accord the truce. As a result, on June 12, 2013, in the morning, he got
admitted to a nearby hospital and based on the same false report of injury, he
lodged an FIR at P.S. Budge Budge against Mrittika and her entire family.
Here
is the list of arrested persons:
1)
Sukhendu
Bikash Sardar
2)
Kamal
Krishna Sardar (eldest son of Sukhendu)
3)
Kalpana
Sardar (wife of Sukhendu)
4)
Aparna
Sardar (wife of Kamal Krishna)
5)
Tamasa
Naskar (elder sister of Mrittika)
6)
Mrittika
It
is worthwhile to mention, none of the attackers including Amriul, Farooq,
Sheikh Sabbir, Zuba, Zaku and Khaja was taken into custody by the police.
Strikingly, when police went to the residence of Sardar family, these
assaulters were present there. But this didn’t impress police to lodge cases
against them.
Even
if the Sardar family has been bailed out and it has returned to Mithapukur,
Mrittika has been sent to an unknown place for safety.
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