TNN, Kolkata :
A teenage school girl was brutally gang raped and murdered allegedly by Trinamool Congress goons in Jalpaiguri’s Dhupguri late on Monday, and later her body was dumped along the railway tracks.
The class X student, who belonged to a schedule caste group, had protested the manner in which her family, believed to be CPM supporters, were penalised and ostracised, in a kangroo court convened by a local Trinamool councillor. Police has arrested two persons – Anil Burman and Subir Burman – among the 13 FIR-named accused, which includes former Trinamool councillor Chandrakanta Ray and his supporters.
The brutality of the incident has already led to sporadic protests in Dhupguri by the CPM’s student and youth wings and comes at a time when chief minister Mamata Banerjee is herself in north Bengal. The victim’s father, sources said, had a long-standing tiff with Trinamool Congress supporter Anil Burman, his neighbour, on the mode of payment for using a power tiller for cultivating their land.
At Burman’s behest, local Trinamool councillor Namita Ray convened the kanagroo court to “settle” the dispute. Namita herself wasn’t present in the kangaroo court but her husband – and former councillor – Chandrakanta Ray was. The spot chosen, incidentally, was in front of a Trinamool Congress leader Saraswasti Ray’s home.
It is alleged that the victim’s family was forcibly dragged there by Burman. They were slapped a fine of Rs 40,000 and asked to pay Rs 4,000 immediately. They were also asked to leave the village in a month failing which their home would be burnt down.
The family was also assaulted and abused. At this the schoolgirl put her foot down. She reminded all that it wasn’t only wrong but illegal. It is alleged that she was then asked to lick her own spit. Within sometime, she suddenly went missing. Her father and her kin kept searching for her overnight. Tuesday morning, her nude body was found barely 500 meters away from where the meeting took place. Since the incident took place close to the railway tracks, the Railway GRP has initiated a case and sent the body for post mortem. SP Jalpaiguri Kunal Agarwal said, “Two persons have been arrested and handed over to the GRP for further investigation. They are probing the case.”
Earlier, in March 28 the Supreme Court had directed the West Bengal government to pay Rs five lakh compensation in addition to already sanctioned Rs 50,000 to the 20-year-old Birbhum gang-rape victim. A bench of Chief Justice P Sathasivam, S A Bobde and N V Ramana also said the state government has failed to protect the fundamental right of the victim, a young tribal woman who was gang-raped allegedly by 13 villagers in Birbhum district in January this year. The bench had taken suo motu cognizance of the incident on January 24 and had directed the district judge to visit the place and file a report to it.
