The day was made early for Sima Das of Sandeshkhali. It was made by the news of Sheikh Shahjahan’s arrest. Sima, 32, cooked lunch for her family of four for the first time in a fortnight.

To most women in the country that might have been the most mundane of tasks; to 32-year-old Sima, the act was an expression of her supreme “relief”.

The homemaker from Bermajur had been one of the many aggrieved women in Sandeshkhali demonstrating for the arrest of Shahjahan and his associates, whom they accuse of land-grab and sexual abuse of women.

For over a fortnight, the protests had compelled her to spend the better part of the day on the streets, keeping her away from the kitchen.

“It was a relief when we came to know the police had finally arrested Shahjahan. It’s a victory for our movement. Today, I am cooking fish curry and rice for my family,” the mother of two daughters told The Telegraph on Thursday.

Cooking was not the only way she had celebrated, though — her face was smeared with abir.

Holi seemed to have come three weeks early to Bermajur, with Sima and some 200 other women throwing themselves into a frenzied gambol of colours for two hours on Thursday. They also exchanged sweets.

“I had time to cook only at night these past 15 days. Even then, I used to be too tired after protesting the entire day, and my family didn’t mind surviving on the boiled rice and potatoes I cooked for dinner: the fight for Shahjahan’s arrest was important for our survival,” Sima said.

Sima added: “When I had no time even to boil rice, we survived on muri (puffed rice) and even biscuits.”

Her family lost 1.5 bighas of land to Shahjahan three years ago, she said.

“His (Shahjahan’s) arrest is so big for us that cooking lunch after such a long time is a celebration in itself. We were waiting for this day,” Sima said as she dropped telapia into the frypan at her tin-roofed house.

When this correspondent asked a group of around 100 celebrating women why they were so happy, they almost answered in a chorus: “We will sleep in peace tonight.”

One of them, Ashoka Sardar, said: “Until his arrest, Shahjahan had been operating through his henchmen, who were warning us to stay away from the protests. But today he is behind bars, and we will have a good night’s sleep.”

Thousands in Sandeshkhali had been on tenterhooks since Wednesday evening amid murmurs that the “tiger” would be “caged” anytime now.

Wednesday night witnessed a sudden deployment of police in various pockets of Sandeshkhali, giving the impression that something big was about to happen.

As soon as TV channels confirmed the arrest around 7am on Thursday, preparations for the celebrations began. But the rejoicing began in earnest only after visuals of Shahjahan’s production at the Basirhat sub-divisional court were flashed across the screens.

“Someone had called early in the morning and given me the good news of Shahjahan’s arrest,” said Subho Naskar, a young man.

“But we wanted to be sure and waited to see him arrested live on TV. Then our celebrations began. We had stocked abir to celebrate his arrest. We had all the colours — red, green, yellow, pink — and we celebrated an early Holi.”

Many villagers, particularly the women, demanded stringent punishment for Shahjahan.

“Shahjahan will not spare us if he returns here again. His henchmen are threatening us. We want the harshest possible sentence for him. And he must never get bail,” a woman said.

Over the last few days, around 400 complaints have been lodged against Shahjahan and his associates at six temporary camps set up by the administration on the island.

“Most of the complaints were about land-grab; only a few were about sexual assault, torture or cheating. Now you will see a deluge of such complaints as Shahjahan has been arrested,” a woman said.

Celebrations swept across Majherpara, Patra Para, Naskar Para, Bermajur, Jhupkhali and Polepara. Bermajur is barely 4km from Shajahan’s palatial home in Akunjipara, where an Enforcement Directorate team was attacked during an intended raid on January 5.

Since then, some pockets of Sandeshkhali village, Jeliakhali and Bermajur-I gram panchayat — spread across Sandeshkhali I and II blocks and with a combined population of over 20,000 — had been spearheading the protests against Shahjahan and his associates.

While the people hope that peace would return to the troubled zone following Shahjahan’s arrest, the administration is not ready to take chances. Large police teams have been posted in villages such as Sarberia, Rampur, Akunjipara, Dhamkhali and Sandeshkhali.

A police source said dozens of senior officers from other districts such as East Midnapore, Purulia, South 24-Parganas and Howrah had been sent to Sandeshkhali on Wednesday evening.

Amid all the celebration, a pall descended on Sarberia, known as Shahjahan’s backyard.

“His arrest was all about politics. I can’t say any more,” said Sarberia resident Niyamat Mollah, 60.