Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party will bring the perpetrators involved in the violence and sexual assault at Sandeshkhali, including former Trinamool Congress leader Sheikh Shahjahan, to justice within days of the party coming to power. The Assembly election is due in the State in 2026.
Addressing a public gathering at Sandeshkhali, Mr. Adhikari said that the regime of Mr. Shahjahan had ended and that the perpetrators will be brought to justice soon after the BJP came to power. The BJP leader promised the gathering that he will ensure that “Sheikh Shahjahan is hanged” after the party assumes power.
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Mr. Shahjahan, once an influential Trinamool leader from Sandeshkhali block in North 24 Parganas district, faced allegations of land grab and sexual assault by several women of the region, and was arrested by the West Bengal Police in February 2024. He had remained behind bars since then.
The women of the region had rallied against the alleged excesses of the local Trinamool leaders and the issue had become a major poll plank for the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. While the BJP bagged the most votes in the Sandeshkhali Assembly seat, the party lost the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat, under which the Sandeshkhali seat falls, to the Trinamool.
