College girls assaulted by bootleggers for hooch protest

PANSKURA: Three women were allegedly assaulted by bootleggers at Sundernagar village in Panskura on Sunday afternoon after they protested against the large number of hooch distilleries around their house.
Though a written complaint was lodged with the police, the authorities allegedly passed it off as a land dispute and made no attempt to arrest the accused.The women are now facing life threats from the accused.
A large number of residents of Sundernagar, including Subhas Majhi and his relatives, are allegedly engaged in the distillation of hooch and its sale. Not only do outsiders flock to that part of the village to get sozzled and create a ruckus, waste evil-smelling material from the distilleries flows through the properties of neighbours.
One such neighbour is Seema Bangal, a widow, who returned to her maternal home with three minor daughters after the death of her husband. Seema’s two college-going cousins Sonali Singh and Siuli Singh also live in the same house. Sonali is a third year student and Siuli studies in the first year of the Panskura College.
Seema and her relatives have been complaining against the hooch dens for quite some time now.
On Sunday afternoon, when she left her house to take up the matter with Majhi and the others, the latter fell upon her and assaulted her brutally. Her three daughters rushed to her side but were beaten up as well. So were Sonali and Siuli and their brother, a Class-VII student.
They were taken to the Panskura hospital from where Seema was referred to the Tamluk Hospital due to the serious nature of her injuries. On the way back, Seema’s relatives lodged a written complaint at the Panskura police station against Majhi and others. Instead of treating it as a criminal case, the police allegedly chose to ignore the matter, referring to it as a land dispute. Sukesh Jain, SP, East Midnapore, said the complaint was about a land dispute. “We are probing the matter accordingly. So far as hooch dens are concerned, the police carry out routine raids. If a fresh complaint is lodged, we will take action,” he said.