No, SDPI has not yet adopted children of migrant labor who died at railway station in Bihar
Katihar (Bihar): Reports of Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) adopting the two sons of Avreena Khatoon, who died last Monday at Muzaffarpur after de-boarding a sharmik train from Ahmedabad, started doing rounds on social media groups with praises pouring in for the party for their noble gesture.
With the messages, a few pictures showing party officials sitting with the two children of the deceased woman went viral on social media.
Vartha Bharati contacted Bihar’s SDPI officials and tried to authenticate the news that was spreading like wildfire on various social media platforms including Facebook and WhatsApp. Upon verifying the facts it turned out the news was only partially true.
Vartha Bharati spoke to SDPI’s Bihar State President, Naseem Akhtar who confirmed that although the party had offered the family to adopt the two sons of the deceased woman, but it was not confirmed as of now and that they were in talks with the family members of the children.
Speaking to VB over a phone call, Naseem said another NGO had offered the family to adopt the elder son of the woman and to bear the expense of his education and livelihood. He added that his party has offered the family to adopt the younger of the two sons, Rahmat who is 18 months old and has requested the family to give his custody to them after which they will look after all his expenses.
“But owing to the young age of Rahmat, the family is little hesitant to give us his custody and to allow us to adopt him. However, we have now planned to pitch a new offer to the family wherein the child will stay with the family but the party will look after all his expenses and will hand over his monthly expenses to the family. We will meet the family next week and discuss this with them” Naseem said.
“Although the news doing rounds on social media is partially true but it needs to go with this clarification that it is not official yet. And we are yet to get the consent from the family” Naseem added.
“Along with this, three more migrant laborers in the state have died while returning to their home states. These cases did not come to people’s notice unlike Avreena’s case, but our party reached out to them as well and we have offered to adopt their kids as well” Naseem further told VB.
A video of Rahmat, one of the two sons of Avreena Khatoon, pulling a cloth and attempting to awaken his mother presuming that she is asleep. The video had broken onto the internet prompting people to condemn the incident. Some of the social media users had also lashed out at the authorities for failing to work in the interest of migrant laborers returning to their home states.
Although the local administration led by Katihar District Magistrate, Kanwal Tanuj met the family of Avreen Khatoon and has offered help, Naseem opined that the administration initially did not show any interest in responding to the incident or offering help to the family and kids of Avreena.
“Nobody from the administration came forward and took the accountability and met or offered help to the family initially. SDPI was one of the first responders who met the family of the deceased and chalked out a plan to help them in any way possible” Naseem said.
Vartha Bharati also tried to contact the family of the Avreena Khatoon but the family was not immediately available for a comment on the story. The story will be updated as and when we get a comment from the family.
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West Bengal: BJP holds protest against Sandeshkhali videos, TMC worker 'heckled'
Sandeshkhali (WB), May 12: BJP workers on Sunday demonstrated against the circulation of purported videos "to malign the image" of saffron party leaders in West Bengal's Sandeshkhali, and allegedly heckled the local TMC legislator for spreading "misinformation" over complaints of sexual abuse, lodged by women in the area.
They also beat up a local TMC activist in Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district for allegedly being involved in "disseminating false information about atrocities on women" in the area.
Led by BJP's Basirhat Lok Sabha constituency candidate Rekha Patra, the protestors demonstrated in front of Sandeshkhali Police station, also demanding the release of a party activist arrested in a "false dacoity" case.
Patra accused police of "slapping trumped-up charges on BJP activists" in Sandeshkhali, while "turning a blind eye to the filming and circulation of fake videos" implicating her party leaders and women in the area.
A section of women protestors allegedly dragged the local TMC activist from a house and beat him up in the presence of the party's Sandeshkhali MLA Sukumar Mahata who was there for campaigning, a leader of the ruling party claimed.
As Mahata tried to intervene he was allegedly shoved by the protestors, he said.
Mahata blamed Patra and her supporters for "orchestrating" the attack on the local TMC activist, stating that the "BJP's gameplan to defame Bengal is clear before the people of the state".
"The BJP broke all precedents and tried to disrupt our campaign but we did not retaliate," he said.
A team of police personnel rushed to the spot and managed to rescue the TMC activist.
The riverine Sandeshkhali area — situated on the borders of the Sundarbans, about 100 kilometres from Kolkata — had been on the boil in February with protests over allegations of sexual abuse and land grab against now arrested TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh and his supporters.
In a purported video that surfaced from Sandeshkhali on Saturday night, a local BJP leader was heard saying that over 70 women had received Rs 2,000 each for taking part in protests against local TMC satrap Sheikh and his aides who were accused of sexual assault and land grab.
In the video, lasting over 45 minutes, a man resembling BJP's Sandeshkhali mandal president Gangadhar Kayal told this to the questioner.
It was Kayal who had earlier said in another purported clip, the first in a series in the past week, that the rape allegations were “staged”.
PTI did not independently verify the authenticity of the videos.
One of the women, who demonstrated outside the police station, denied the allegation, and said, "Were we protesting in February for money? The TMC are making false claims".
Patra, the BJP candidate for the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat, alleged that a saffron party worker in the area was "arrested on a false dacoity charge but many TMC activists, allegedly involved in atrocities on women, are roaming around freely".
Branding the BJP as a "violent" party, TMC spokesperson and state minister Shashi Panja said, "TMC poll campaigners are being attacked by BJP candidate from Basirhat, Rekha Patra, and her followers in Sandeshkhali after the conspiracy hatched by the BJP has come to light."
The incident of attack on the TMC activist and the party MLA took place on the day of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to West Bengal and "possibly under his instruction", the state minister alleged.
BJP candidate for Baranagar assembly bypoll and party's spokesperson Sajal Ghosh said the incident reflected the simmering anger of people of Sandeshkhali against TMC.
"The assault on the TMC activist and manhandling of the local MLA is just a pointer. More such incidents may follow if the TMC does not stop bringing disgrace to the mothers and sisters of Sandeshkhali by releasing such fake videos," he said.
TMC's "diabolical gameplan" to deflect attention from the atrocities on women by its leaders in the area will backfire, Ghosh told reporters.
Patra, before being fielded by BJP, was at the forefront of the series of agitation by women in Sandeshkhali in February and March.
