Much to the embarrassment of Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress, National Commission for Women on Thursday took cognisance of the Madhyamgram gang-rape and murder case shooting off a letter to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asking to explain her Government’s conduct in a week’s time.
As though the mortification for the country’s ‘cultural capital’ was not enough, State Chief Secretary Sanjay Mitra too jumped into the fray “deploring politics over a body” even as netas continued to fling mud at each other.
All these while the parents of the ill-fated victim went underground to avoid retaliation by the alleged ‘well-wishers’ of the ruling outfit who were reportedly threatening the family to withdraw the case or face bullets.
NCW chairperson Mamta Sharma said she was writing a letter to the Bengal Chief Minister seeking to explain her Government’s conduct in handling the entire affair. “It is surprising to learn how a girl was gang-raped for the second time even after lodging a complaint for the previous rape,” she said doubting the conduct of the police.
“I am writing a letter to the Chief Minister to seriously take up the case and explain her Government’s conduct in the matter,” Sharma said, adding an inquiry committee had already been formed to probe the case.
However, hours later the Chief Minister without mentioning any specific incident later told the media as to how “a section of people are out to malign Bengal and our Government but we will not be cowed down and surge ahead with our developmental
activities.”
Incidents of rape had picked up in Bengal in the recent times with the latest one matching in ferocity with the one in Delhi and subsequently the other at Kamduni at Barasat in Bengal a few months ago which too kicked off enough heat and dust before being subdued by the people in power.
In the instant case, the 16-year-old victim, a daughter of a taxi driver who had migrated to Madhyamgram north of Kolkata for better education was twice gang-raped, threatened for weeks to withdraw the police complaint and then murdered by the goons who raided her house and set her afire.
The victim succumbed to her injuries on Tuesday after a week’s battle with death. Curiously after her death, began the tug of war with her corpse.
Reacting to the incident artist and civil society activist Samir Aich said, “Curiously the police that failed to protect her in life hijacked her body after death.”
Fearing an Opposition backlash the police seized the body from the family which was driving the corpse to its house and left it for five hours at a burning ghat pressuring the family all the while to conduct the funeral in that night only.
When the family declined her father was reportedly threatened by the goons in presence of the police with gun to “burn the body tonight and go back to Bihar or face bullets” the victim’s father later said before lodging a second FIR.
Meanwhile, even as the Opposition left and Congress took out rallies and demanded resignation of the Chief Minister, who is also the Home Minister, Chief Secretary Sanjay Mitra claimed the police had done their job well “by arresting the accused against whom charge-sheet has been filed” before adding “playing politics over a dead body is highly deplorable.”
The Chief Secretary said clarified, “There was no medical negligence on the part of the hospital authorities. She died of multi-organ failure as she had sustained 65 per cent burn.”