West Bengal Child Rights Panel Team Visits Sandeshkhali

A six-member team of the West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights (WBCPCR) on Saturday visited Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district to ascertain complaints of child abuse in the politically troubled area.

The child is now under treatment in a state-run medical facility.

Advisor to the state child rights panel Sudeshna Roy told reporters, ''We have come to ground zero to assess the situation. Our duty is to give protection to every child in the state and also see their rights are protected''.

''We will talk to the mother of the child who was allegedly tortured'', she said.

The six-member team of the West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights which visited Sandeshkhali was led by its chairperson Tulika Das.

Das said that on Friday, they got to know that some person barged into the house and threw the child from the mother's lap.

''We took suo motu cognisance to meet the family. We met the mother of the child...they wanted food, medical support and security. We have provided them all that'', she said.

Tension started brewing in Sandeshkhali after the ED went to the area to search the premises of local Trinamool Congress leader Sheikh Shajahan in connection with an alleged ration scam more than a month ago. The Trinamool Congress leader is still at large.

Earlier, representatives of the National Commission for Women and the National Commission for Scheduled Castes also visited the area.

Sandeshkhali, a village in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, has been witnessing protests over alleged atrocities, including sexual abuse, by some TMC leaders against villagers and has triggered a fierce political blame game with senior leaders of the Congress, which is part of the anti-BJP opposition bloc INDIA along with TMC at the national level, joining others to criticise the Mamata Banerjee government over the issue.