The Calcutta high court on Wednesday ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe all allegations levelled by residents of strife-torn Sandeshkhali in West Bengal since February, and said it will monitor the process — a significant setback for the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) on a high-profile issue days before general elections.

Read here: Cop attacked inside police camp in Bengal’s Sandeshkhali; TMC leaders detained

The order was passed by the division bench of chief justice TS Sivagnanam and justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya who were hearing a suo motu motion on the alleged offences, ranging from land-grab and exploitation to molestation and rape, and petitions seeking the transfer of investigation into these from the local police to CBI.

“It goes without saying that CBI shall have the power to require any person, organisation, government authority, police authorities, quasi governmental authorities, NGOs, public spirited persons and others who may be genuinely interested in the matter to furnish information on such point or matters, as in its opinion may be useful for, or relevant to the subject matter,” said the order, a copy of which was seen by HT.

“This court shall monitor the entire investigation and shall pass further orders after the reports as directed above are filed by CBI,” said the order, setting May 2 as the next date of hearing.

“With regard to the protection to the victims and witnesses, CBI shall issue necessary directions to the state police as to how and in what manner protection can be granted without insisting upon the strict procedure as stipulated under the witness protection scheme,” the order added.

The order sparked a political controversy in a state that is expected to be among the most keenly contested in the Lok Sabha polls that begin on April 19.

“This is a historic order. The extent of atrocity Sandeshkhali residents faced for years will be exposed now. The TMC government had gone going all out to hide it,” BJP state unit chief Sukanta Majumdar said.

TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh referred to former Calcutta high court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay who recently joined the BJP and is fighting the elections from Tamluk. “From the judgment it seems more people like Abhijit Gangopadhyay are standing in queue with aspirations to join BJP,” Ghosh said at a press conference.

TMC state vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar said the CBI probe will only delay the process of delivering justice. “CBI is good at painting political narratives and please its bosses. It is not known for completing investigations on time. The rate of conviction in CBI cases is very poor. Now, people will have to wait for years,” Majumdar said.

The alleged offences committed by former TMC leaders in the island village of Sandeshkhali — around a dozen first information reports have been filed so far — is among the top poll issues in the eastern state that sends 42 members to the Lok Sabha. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah have repeatedly referred to the allegations to attack the TMC especially on the question of women’s safety. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has said the state government took swift action against the perpetrators and accused the BJP of vendetta politics.

The main accused, suspended TMC leader Sheikh Shahjahan, and two TMC-run zilla parishad members, Uttam Sardar and Shibu Hazra, have been arrested by the state police, and suspended by the TMC.

The riverine island of Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district has been in the eye of the storm since January 5, when Enforcement Directorate (ED) officers arrived to search the home of Shahjahan, a close aide of former minister Jyoti Priya Mallick, who was arrested in October last year in connection with an alleged ration distribution scam. The ED team came under attack from an angry mob, leaving three officers injured.

But, on February 7, other violent protests began erupting in Sandeshkhali and other nearby villages, with groups of residents, led mostly by local women, alleging sexual harassment at the hands of local TMC leaders including Shahjahan, his brother Sirajuddin, and other associates Uttam Hazra and Shibu Sardar. Other villages said that Shahjahan and his associates also indulged in land-grab.

Shahjahan, a former TMC zila parishad leader, was arrested by the state police on the orders of the high court on February 29 after 55 days on the run. Although state CID took over the investigation Shahjahan was handed over to CBI under court orders.

The state government has repeatedly accused the Opposition of politicising the event. But the BJP has sought to use Sandeshkhali as a referendum on the TMC government’s grip on law and order in the state. A number of national panels — including the National Commission of Women, the National Commission of Scheduled Castes and the National Commission of Scheduled Tribes — have visited the area and later said that they documented serious allegations against Sheikh and his associates.

Shahjahan is now in ED custody after CBI grilled him in its custody for several days under orders of the high court.

The high court, which earlier ordered CBI to probe the alleged attack on the ED officers, expanded the agency’s area of investigation on Wednesday by including the charges of extortion, land grabbing and sexual exploitation raised by Sandeshkhali residents who rose against the TMC leaders in February.

They alleged that TMC leaders used their land to run salt water fisheries, making the soil unfit for cultivation.

“With regard to the allegations about change of names of the owners in the revenue records illegally and also illegal conversion of agricultural lands into bheris (fisheries) for carrying on pisciculture, CBI is directed to file a comprehensive report in that regard after conducting a thorough inspection of the revenue records and after making physical inspection of the plots alleged to have been illegally converted into bheris on the next date,” the court said.

“In order to ensure confidentiality, CBI shall create a dedicated portal/email ID to which the complaints can be lodged and the district magistrate, North 24 Parganas, shall give adequate publicity of the same in the locality and also issue a public notice in the dailies having wide circulation in the areas. The text of the publication shall be in vernacular,” the bench said in the order.

“The court can take judicial notice of the fact that the State of West Bengal has put in place a machinery by which certain extent of lands are said to have been handed over to the persons from whom it has been grabbed. The fact that the Government came forward to hand over the land back to the rightful owner is more than sufficient to establish that land were forcibly taken. The mere fact that the Government has taken steps to revert the land back to the rightful owner does not efface or mitigate the offences of land grabbing,” the order said.

“The court took serious note of the complaints of rape and sexual assault lodged by local women many of whom belong to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe communities. In our prayers, we said the offences were not confined to Sandeshkhali. People in adjacent regions were exploited as well,” said lawyer and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Priyanka Tibrewal, the petitioner representing the victims.

The court directed that security cameras and street lights must be installed immediately across Sandeshkhali and asked the state to bear the expenses.

Tibrewal told the bench that the complaints included affidavits filed by alleged victims of sexual assault. One of these women said in her affidavit that she was raped repeatedly for 13 days.

The order was passed around the same time when Union home minister Amit Shah was addressing a campaign rally at Balurghat in north Bengal.

Read here: CBI to probe crimes against women, land grabbing in Sandeshkhali: Calcutta HC

“Mamata Didi. You are doing politics even with the grievous crimes committed at Sandeshkhali. You were silent for years when the women were tortured. It took the high court to order the arrest of the offender,” Shah said at the rally. “The nation has seen that you are protecting the offender at Sandeshkhali. Mamata Didi your politics of appeasement should have a limit.”

Former TMC Rajya Sabha member Santanu Sen said: “Shah wants to use the issue for political mileage but people are aware that it was the state government that arrested the accused and started the process of returning land to the farmers.”