Incident like Sandeshkhali is failure of the State : Shankaracharya Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati

Case of sexual abuse of Hindu women by the ruling party in Sandeshkhali (Bengal)

Shankaracharya Avimukteshwaranand

Dehradun (Uttarakhand) – Shankaracharya Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati of Jyotishpeeth has weighed in on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s handling of the sexual abuse of women in Sandeshkhali, Bengal. When queried about the matter, Shankaracharya remarked, “The occurrence of such incidents is a failure of the State. Fundamentally, the State was instituted to ensure that the vulnerable are not exploited. Our mothers and sisters look to us, the rulers, for protection. If they endure abuse and injustice, it reflects a failure of the state, and such actions are intolerable. Particularly, when a mother or sister (Mamata Banerjee) governs the State, this issue becomes even more crucial.”

In Sandeshkhali, there were incidents of sexual abuse of Hindu women by Trinamool Congress Muslim leader Sheikh Shahjahan and his associates. The Central Investigation Department, tasked with probing the case, has already apprehended Sheikh Shahjahan.