Kolkata, 22nd January, 2014: The brutal gang-rape
of a tribal girl in Lavpur in Birbhum district has exposed not only the
deterioration of law and order in the state, but also how the rural Bengal has
come under savage rule of Trinamool Congress.
The incident took place on January 21, in
Subalpur village. It is a shocking incident where a kangaroo court was summoned
to decide on the fate of the girl who had an affair with a boy of another
community. The so-called ‘arbitration court’ asked for a hefty fine for the
‘crime’. As the family of the girl declared their inability to pay the ransom,
an ‘order’ was passed to rape the girl. Some 12 to 13 people raped the girl in
the village itself. The medical test also proved that the girl was indeed
gang-raped.
As the details began to come to light, it was
proved that the signatories to the order of the ‘fine’ included local Trinamool
panchayat member, a non-tribal. Two other TMC leaders were also involved in the
crime, both of whom were non-tribal. Ajoy Mondal, the panchayat member feigned
ignorance until his signatures were exposed in the media. Another TMC leader,
Debraj Mondal reportedly used his video to shoot the crime. It was not an
“adivasi practice” at all, but the handiwork of a gang of criminals, using the
fake and unjust ‘arbitration’.
In a typically Mamata-administration’s way of
handling atrocities against the women, the police did not seek the remand of 13
accused even after arresting them. In the process, very important medical tests
of the culprits and other necessary details were skipped. With huge
condemnation of the act, the chief minister ordered the transfer of the
district police superintendent and police was forced to appeal to court again
to take the accused into their remand. Meanwhile, in a suo moto action, the
Supreme Court has ordered the Birbhum district judge to conduct an enquiry of
his own and submit report to the apex court.
The incident, coming only weeks after the
gruesome murder of a rape victim in Madhyamgram, sparked a spontaneous protest
in the state. AIDWA, DYFI, SFI, CITU and other organisations protested through
road blockades and rallies throughout the state.
A Left Front delegation led by the leader of
the opposition Surya Kanta Misra went to see the raped girl at the Siuri
Hospital. Mishra talked with the victim and her mother and then met the
hospital superintendent. The delegation also visited Subalpur village. Misra
lamented that the Panchayat administration of West Bengal, for which the state
was known to the researchers from all across the country and even overseas, for
which the state was proud of, has now turned in to the ‘Khap’ Panchayat of the
ruling Trinamool Congress. He said that there is no other instance of such
brutality in the history of this state.
Left Front chairman and CPI(M) state
secretary Biman Basu has condemned the incident and has demanded exemplary
punishment for the miscreants. He said the security and honour of the women in
the state has been trampled. It seems that the state was moving towards the
medieval era. The All India Democratic Women’s Organisation has also condemned
this brutal barbaric act. Besides demanding justice, they said there was not a
single day in West Bengal without any incident of atrocity on women taking
place. They have demanded security arrangement for the tribal woman and her
family members.
AIDWA Demands Action in the Gang-Rape case of Adivasi Girl
The following is the press statement issued
by the All India Democratic Women’s Association on January 23:
It is shocking that not a day passes in West
Bengal without one or the other incident of violence against women. The latest
incident has taken place in Labhpur, Birbhum on January 21, when a 20 year-old
adivasi girl from the village of Rajrampur was abducted and gang-raped by 12
persons from the same village as she had dared to have a relationship with a
non-tribal boy. This was done after a kangaroo-court called apparently by some
village elders sought to extract a fine of Rs 50,000 from the girl’s family for
this supposed offence, and the family pleaded their inability to pay the same.
The couple were reportedly brought before the kangaroo-court bound hand and
foot and even after the boy pleaded that he wanted to marry the girl, the
perpetrators ignored him and gave the verdict for the girl to be raped as a
punishment by those present. She was dragged to an adjoining room and attacked
by a number of persons from her own village, and left severely injured in front
of her house. The next day she went with her mother and lodged an FIR at
Labhpur Thana, after which she was admitted to the PHC and then shifted to
Siuri District Hospital. The police have so far arrested 11 persons on the
basis of the FIR. The AIDWA has led a deputation to the SP and several protest
rallies have been conducted against the growing atmosphere of insecurity,
especially for women in West Bengal.
Although some arrests have been made in this
particular case, it is necessary that the administration makes immediate
arrangements for the full security of the survivor and her family. All the
perpetrators and instigators must be arrested and a proper investigation
conducted. It is increasingly the case
in several districts of West Bengal including Birbhum that there is a growing
atmosphere of violence, with gangs of armed anti-socials taking the law in
their own hands. This is because many of them enjoy the political patronage of
the ruling party, as a result of which the police and the administration turn a
blind eye to them. Consequently, lawlessness has been increasing at all levels,
since there is now a feeling that such crimes can go unpunished. The AIDWA
expresses its grave concern about the situation, and stands by all those who
are victims of the growing crimes against women in the state.
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