West Bengal: Post-poll violence victims have lost faith in local police, says NHRC member Atif Rasheed

Speaking exclusively to ETV Bharat, Atif Rasheed, vice-chairman of the National Commission for Minorities and member of the committee of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) alleged that he was attacked by TMC workers at the Jadavpur area while reviewing the post-poll violence.

New Delhi: Atif Rasheed, vice-chairman of the National Commission for Minorities and member of the committee of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) set up as per the instructions of Calcutta High Court on Thursday said that the victims of post-poll violence in West Bengal have lost faith in the local police and their complaints are not being registered from last two months.

Speaking exclusively to ETV Bharat, Atif Rasheed, vice-chairman of the National Commission for Minorities alleged that he was attacked by TMC workers at the Jadavpur area while reviewing the post-poll violence.

"On the basis of the complaints received, I along with the NHRC team reached the spot and found that 40 houses were burnt and destroyed and the families had left their houses. For the past two months nobody knows the whereabouts of those families, who were mainly BJP activists," said Atif Rasheed.

Rasheed said that he had informed the local police prior to his visit to that particular area but only two policemen were sent and when the TMC workers chased and threatened him, the local police officials ran away from the spot.

"When we saw things going out of control, we decided to come back with the help of CRPF personnel. The victims of post-poll violence have lost faith in the police. After the incident, even I have lost the faith in the state police. The victims want to register their complaints but it's been two months and they haven't registered any complaint," he added.

The NHRC committee member said that since the Calcutta high court had asked them to visit the ground and investigate the violence, he had gone to Jadavpur where he was recording evidence.

"The TMC workers gheraoed me and one of the victims (Shanu). I had somehow convinced Shanu to take me to the affected area but we were threatened to move out of the place as they didn't want us to record the proof for our report," he added.

Notably, the seven-member panel of the NHRC on Wednesday submitted a report on the issue to the five-judge bench of the Calcutta high court.