Women of Sandeshkhali have now come out and spoken out against their complaints to the police, which they claimed were false and were not aware of. Niyati Maity, one of such women, said, “The day Mahila Commission had come to the police station, the same day Piyali had called us to share our complaints (with the commission). I told them that we hadn’t received the money for the job card and cooking. We only wanted that money and had no other complaints. Nothing such as rape happened with us. We are not involved in those things. We are poor people and we work hard to earn a living. Mampi trapped us by getting us to sign on a white paper. We want her to be punished and want to be relieved of this issue.”

Another woman, Tapati Maity, said, “They (Mita Maity and her mother-in-law) were called to the police station over their complaints. When they went to the police station, they were made to sign on a white paper. They (accused) fabricated a story on their own and that was filed as a case. Around 7 days later, when the police went to their homes, it was then we got to know that the mother-in-law had filed a (rape) case. We were shocked as we knew that she hadn’t gone to the police station to file this case. There was no rape; we are the daughters-in-law she mentioned in the complaint. We want action against Piyali Das (Mampi) for playing with our dignity and lying to us. Now, she’s threatening to file a case against me as well since I helped the Maitys.”

Mita Maity, the third woman said, “They came asking who had complaints. When we listed our complaints, we were given a blank paper and were asked to sign. Following that, we went home. Four five days later, we got a notice from the police station. It was then that we got to know that he had filed a rape complaint. This was a total lie. I didn’t know that our names were given in fake rape complaints. I went to the police station today because I was receiving death threats through Piyali Das (Mampi) that they would kill us. Just because we are exposing the case, they are giving us death threats and threats of filing false case of Rs 2 lakh.”