For over a fortnight, an elderly couple and their son, thrashed allegedly at the whims of a local leader have fled their Jamalpur place fearing further attacks.

The reason behind the fierce attack on them was their refusal to respond to summons issued by the leader asking them to appear before a kangaroo court at the local party office. “Actually they instructed us to agree with an out-of-court settlement of a separation case that our daughter-in-law had filed against our son at the Burdwan District Court, which we’d refused to comply with,” narrated the panicked elderly couple of remote Kubazpur village in Jamalpur of East Burdwan, today.

The couple, Sahanara Biwi and Burhan Sheikh, both farmers by profession, besides lodging their complaint with the state director general of police, has also forwarded an appeal to the chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, today seeking her intervention into their state of affairs and their rescue from the clutches of the local ‘dictators’ of the TMC.

The couple’s only son, Bashir Ali Sheikh was married to Julekha Sheikh from Aludanga village in Burdwan PS area on 21 January, 2018. Julekha however, returned to her parents within a couple of months and stayed back there forever. In 2019, she lodged a complaint of torture against her in-laws with the Jamalpur PS and in 2021 with the Burdwan Women PS.

Bashir and his parents were granted bail by the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court in Burdwan. “The issue is still pending with the CJM Court. On 10 June, we however were ordered by the TMC’s area president Azad Rahman Sheikh to appear at the local party office on 13 June to make an out-of-court settlement on the issue, which we declined,” said Sahanara. Burhan said, “As we didn’t turn up, Azad, accompanied by two of his aides Badsha Mallik and Raja Mallik, raided our house and attacked my son with a lathi. They thrashed Bashir badly and when we went to his rescue, we also were beaten.”

The injured family members left home and after treatment at the Jamalpur Block Hospital, they lodged a complaint with the local PS. Considering Bashir’s grave wounds, he was shifted to the Burdwan Medical College and Hospital.

The police said: “An investigation on the charges is in progress.” The accused leader Azad Sheikh however has refuted the charges. He said, “Bashir is well known to me and I know about his divorce case. Once the matter is pending with the C