Kolkata, Jan 4
Park Street, Kamduni, Madhyamgram - these places in West Bengal may be as different as chalk and cheese, but they do have a sordid link. All three are the setting for headline-grabbing rape cases, ineptly and insensitively handled by the government of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
The Anglo-Indian woman, who was allegedly raped at gun point in a moving car she boarded on Park Street early 2012, is still awaiting justice with the case dragging on in a court of law. Mamata Banerjee had courted a controversy after she dubbed the incident as "cooked up" to malign her government.
When a zealous woman police officer Damayanti Sen proved Banerjee wrong by cracking the case and arresting most of the culprits, she was shunted out to an insignificant posting. The prime accused still continues to elude the police.
In picturesque Kamduni - close to Barasat of North 24 Parganas district - a second year college student was abducted, raped, and killed by a group of youths June 7, 2012, when she was returning home after appearing in an examination in Barasat. Days after the incident Banerjee visited the village, but lost her cool on facing a demonstration. Shouting at the protesters, she dubbed them agents of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).
The girl's parents are still waiting for the culprits to be punished.
The latest gruesome incident happened at North 24 Parganas district's Madhaymgram, 22 km from here. A minor girl, whose father - a taxi driver - relocated to Kolkata from Bihar years back, was gangraped in October, 2012.
Shockingly - and a telling commentary on the state of affairs - the girl was gangraped for the second time when she was returning home after lodging a police complaint.
By:IANS