CPM state secretary Md Salim said here on Friday that the party would form women’s brigades in districts across Bengal after the festival season to prevent atrocities and crimes against women.

“Women, especially those belonging to the marginal section of society, and children across the state are being tortured and facing atrocities every day, and the state government is ignorant of such crimes. That is why we have decided to form women’s brigades in all districts,” Salim told journalists in the Darjeeling district CPM office
in Siliguri.

“It will work for the protection of the women and encourage them to learn self-defence tactics. The brigades will also reach out to the girls and women to inform them about their rights to health, education and economic empowerment. After Durga Puja, we will initiate the process of forming the brigades in districts, including in north Bengal,” the CPM leader added.

Salim criticised the Trinamool Congress government while referring to the murder of a tribal girl in Birbhum district.

After the incident, residents of the victim’s village launched a massive protest by thrashing the headmaster of her school and blocking a state highway for several hours on Thursday. The girl’s dismembered body was recovered on Tuesday.

Salim said a delegation of the Left Front and the Congress would visit the
affected area.

The CPM leader blamed both the Centre and the state for not implementing the 100-day work scheme in Bengal.

“The economically weaker people across Bengal are facing immense hardship as the Centre and the state have not taken initiatives for the implementation of the 100-day work scheme. This has forced the residents of rural areas to move to cities and migrate to other states in search of livelihood, where they face torture,” said Salim.