West Bengal women protest against alleged CRPF manhandling

JHARGRAM - Around 10,000 of women staged protested in Jhargram, in West Bengal’s West Medinipur on Tuesday against the alleged harassment by Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel under the pretext of flushing out Maoists.

The protest, which was held under the aegis of ‘Nari Izzat Bachao Committee’ (Save Women’s Prestige), consisted of women from around 50 villages. They gathered outside the Sub Divisional Office of Jhargram to voice their protest.

Maoist attacks have increased this year, especially after the government launched a coordinated security offensive, involving tens of thousands of police and paramilitaries trying to flush out rebels from their jungle hideouts in central and eastern India.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the Maoists as the country’s biggest internal security threat, but the rebels say they are crusading against the prevailing political system, upholding the cause of the poor and marginal farmers and landless labourers.

The movement started as a peasant revolt in Naxalbari village of West Bengal in 1967, giving the name Naxalism to their movement and Naxalites to the cadres. (ANI)