A division bench of the Calcutta high court on Monday took suo moto cognizance of the incident in which two sisters were allegedly tied up, dragged and beaten in South Dinajpur district in north Bengal and directed “the state legal aid services to submit a report immediately”. Two of the five accused were also arrested, police said on Monday.
Rabisankar Chattopadhyay, the high court advocate, who mentioned the matter before the division bench comprising Chief Justice Thottathil B Nair Radhakrishnan and Justice Arijit Banerjee, said, “Citing media reports we mentioned before the bench how two women were tortured for protesting against building a village road on private land. We appealed before the court to take suo motu cognizance. The bench has directed the member secretary of state legal aid services to submit a report before the court immediately.”
Meanwhile, the district magistrate of South Dinajpur, Nikhil Nirmal has sought a report from the sub-divisional officer of Gangarampur in this regard on Monday.
“I have sought a report from the SDO, Gangarampur by Wednesday to know what administrative measures they have taken. I am yet to receive any direction from the Calcutta HC. If any direction comes from the court, we will definitely act on it,” Nirmal said.
One of the victims, Smriti Kana Das, 29, lodged a complaint with the police on Sunday identifying five persons. Police arrested two accused — Tapan Sil and Gobinda Sarkar on Monday. “Two persons have been arrested. We are looking for the other three,” said Debarshi Dutta, superintendent of police of the district.
The prime accused, TMC panchayat leader Amal Sarkar, who was suspended by the party after a video of the incident emerged on Sunday, is yet to be arrested.
Sarkar could not be contacted despite repeated attempts
Hindustan Times had reported on Monday that two sisters, who protested against building a village road on private land, were allegedly tied up, dragged and beaten up by a Trinamool Congress-led panchayat leader and his aides in South Dinajpur district’s Gangarampur.
