Nandigram toll more than 15: NDA

Many women were victims: BJP The Hindu, 20, 2007 A large number of women were victims of violence in Nandigram and the number of dead could be more than the official figure of 15, according to a report by a National Democratic Alliance team that visited the area. Led by Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L.K. Advani the team has reported that several women were gangraped by policemen and more than 50 per cent of the injured in the two hospitals it visited were women. BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, who was a member of the delegation, said on Monday; "We heard unbelievable stories of police brutality ... children picked up as they returned from school, killed and thrown into a nearby water body, people prevented from claiming their dead, and everyone was talking about missing persons ... the list of dead could be much longer than the police would have us believe." The team members wanted to raise the issue in the Lok Sabha on Monday, which was not allowed by the chair, to give the House an account of what they saw, she said. Ms. Swaraj further added that it was "shameful" that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi were silent on the issue.

An NDA team that has just returned from its "fact-finding" mission in Nandigram believes that the death toll in last week's police firing could be higher than the official figure of 15, as many are still missing and bodies of victims had most likely been "disposed of". In one case a woman continued to be raped, apparently by policemen, even after she had fallen unconscious.

"The list of the missing people is increasing. If bodies of people killed have indeed been disposed of, the death toll may rise," said BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, part of a nine-member NDA team that went to Nandigram over the weekend under the leadership of L K Advani.

After the team's visit to Sonachuri, the BJP leader related the villagers' woes that bodies were dumped in the nearby river and women were raped. According to her, the real victims of the police action were women and during their visit to two hospitals in the area NDA members found that over half of those admitted were women. Villagers also told them how bodies of people killed were packed in sacks and taken away, she said.

The atrocities on women included rape of two. Swaraj said the NDA team had met both women who told the Opposition leaders that the perpetrators were none other than policemen.

One of them said that she hid herself in a cow shed once the police firing began, but a police team dragged her out. They continued to rape her even after she lost consciousness, the woman told the NDA team. Apart from Advani and Swaraj, other members of the team were George Fernandes, Anant Geete, B J Panda, Dinesh Trivedi, R S Ajnala, Sharad Joshi and S S Ahluwalia.

According to the team members, Krishnendu Mondal, a resident of the village, tried to rescue his brother Purnendu, a victim of police firing, by carrying him away from the scene of firing. But the police stopped him and took away his brother. "Krishnendu has not received any information about his brother since then," said Swaraj.