Sandeshkhali LIVE Updates: A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) by way of Writ Petition has been filed in the Supreme Court, seeking directives to transfer the investigation of the alleged sexual assault of women in Sandeshkhali village, from West Bengal Police to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or to a Special Investigation Team (SIT) outside the state of West Bengal, preferably at Delhi, under monitoring of the court.

“The petitioners are aggrieved with the high-handed and arbitrary action of the police and the civil administration depriving their fundamental rights like access to justice, right to livelihood, freedom of movement, etc.", a part of the 12-page-long petition reads.

"For quite some time now, three notorious criminals: Shajahan, Shiba Prasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar, all belonging to the ruling political dispensation, had been torturing the inhabitants of the area in various ways. They would forcibly grab the agricultural land belonging to the local residents, introduce salt water into such land and use the same to form illegal fisheries. They would, thereafter, force the local people to work at those fisheries and most of the times the latter would not be paid proper wages. The miscreants would take away women from the locality in the midst of night to their offices and sexually exploit them. No complaint was taken by the local police authorities", the petition further states. 

The Parliament Committee of Privileges has directed West Bengal DGP/IGP, SP Basirhat and Additional SP Basirhat to appear before them on 19 February for "oral evidence into the Breach of Privilege and Violation of Protocol Norms". The development comes in connection with the notice given by State BJP chief and MP Sukanta Majumdar for "alleged misconduct, brutality and life-threatening injuries to him by the Police officials and District Administration of Basirhat, North 24 Parganas".

Amid massive statewide protest in Bengal demanding justice for the victims of ‘sexual harassment’ in Sandeshkhali, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee blamed the BJP for the unrest in the village. Amid agitation by locals, Chairperson of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Arun Haldar, and Member of Commission Anju Bala reached the site to meet the victims. Further, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari also reached Sandeshkhali to meet the women suffering alleged atrocities. 

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has formed a six-member committee of Union Ministers and MPs to visit Sandeshkhali in West Bengal's North 24 Pargana district and collect information about the alleged incidents of sexual harassment and violence against women there. 

Sandeshkhali LIVE Updates: 

• BJP workers are holding a protest in Purba Bardhaman over the Sandeshkhali incident.

• LoP in West Bengal Legislative Assembly and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari on Sandeshkhali said, "Section 144 is violated only in the question of Suvendu Adhikari because he defeated Mamata Banerjee from Nandigram. He belongs to the BJP and is the LoP. Only Suvendu Adhikari is prevented illegally and forcefully on the instruction of, he (police officer) said higher authority, and I said Mamata Banerjee's instructions...Tomorrow I will move the Calcutta High Court... Nobody can stop me. I will go to the court, and come back with full legal authority."
• “BJP is torturing poor people. The entire country is burning but BJP is laughing,” said Mamata Banerjee on Sandeshkhali unrest. 
• A scuffle broke out between police and BJP workers holding a protest in Siliguri over the Sandeshkhali incident.

• West Bengal Opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari said, "Our mission is to go to that place (Sandeshkhali) and to meet the family members of those arrested. We will reply according to their behavior. But we are law-abiding people..."
• Protest has erupted across Bengal for justice for Sandeshkhali women who were sexually harassed by TMC leaders, claimed reports. Protests were seen in Birbhum, Hooghly, West Midnapore, South 24 Pargana, and Darjeeling, among other locations. 

• BJP leader Shehzad Poonawalla said, "The daughters of West Bengal are not the priorities of the CM Mamata Banerjee. Those who are in Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, all these INDI alliance people aren't worried about the women in Sandeshkhali... We welcome the fact-finding team formed by the BJP national president JP Nadda... West Bengal police is working as a TMC cadre... Mamata Banerjee thinks that she is above the constitution, rights of the women, and the law."
• The National Commission for Women has condemned the appalling situation in Sandeshkali, West Bengal after a fact-finding mission conducted on February 12th, 2024. The team's findings revealed a distressing pattern of negligence and complicity on the part of the Bengal government and law enforcement officials.
• On BJP MLAs being suspended from the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, LoP Suvendu Adhikari said, "We protested against the suspension for 1 hour. Mamata Banerjee suspended me and four other MLAs from the assembly for raising our voices against what happened in Sandeshkhali. Obeying section 144 in the region, we are heading to Sandeshkhali in the order of 1+3 MLAs... Whatever the consequence is, will have to be faced by DGP Rajiv Kumar."
• Following a protest against the Mamata Banerjee government in the Bengal Assembly, BJP LoP Suvendu Adhikari left for Sandeshkhali to meet the victims of alleged sexual harassment. 
• “The Sandeshkhali incident is symbolic of TMC's absolute Gunda Raj in West Bengal. The Gundas across the state were given licenses by TMC to loot public money. Moreover, BJP made it a communal issue to further their own agenda,” said a Senior CPI(M) leader. 
• West Bengal Opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari and other party leaders are holding a protest against the suspension of BJP leaders from the Assembly, in Kolkata. 

• Sandeshkhali violence | "It is a shameful incident that in today's time as well something like this can happen to women...The state's CM is a woman. 'Naam Mamata rakhti hai lekin dil mein mamata naam ki chiz nahi hai'...," saidAnju Bala, member of National Commission for Scheduled Castes.
• Chairperson of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Arun Haldar, and Member of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Anju Bala reached Sandeshkhali to meet the victims.