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New petition in Calcutta high court seeks CBI probe into Bengal girl’s rape
Lawyer Anindya Sundar Das, who filed the petition, said he has sought a CBI probe, security for the girl’s family and ₹1 crore in compensation.
KOLKATA: A West Bengal lawyer filed a petition in the Calcutta high court on Monday for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into last week’s alleged rape and murder of a 17-year-old girl in north Bengal’s Uttar Dinajpur district.
Lawyer Anindya Sundar Das, who filed the petition, said he has sought a CBI probe, security for the girl’s family and ₹1 crore in compensation.
Violence erupted in Kaliaganj area on Friday and Saturday over the girl’s death and the police response to the case. On Saturday, local residents in Kaliaganj blocked roads and set shops on fire, prompting police to fire tear gas shells and use stun grenades to disperse the crowd. The girl’s family alleged that the girl was sexually assaulted before she was killed. Police officers have, however, insisted that the autopsy didn’t indicate rape and suggested that she died by poisoning.
Eventually, police said a rape case was registered on the basis of the complaints lodged by the girl’s father.
Four policemen, seen in a viral video dragging the body of the minor on the area roads on Saturday, have been suspended. HT could not independently confirm the authenticity of the video.
“Four assistant sub-inspectors have been suspended in the body-dragging case, and further departmental enquiry has started against them,” the superintendent of police of Raiganj police district Sana Akhtar said on Monday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has been holding protests at multiple places since Saturday, said that the party will provide full support to the family to move the high court too.
“We are in touch with the family. They are being requested and pressured by the state government. We will give them full legal support so that a CBI probe is ordered,” said Suvendu Adhikari, leader of the opposition in the state assembly.
In Kaliaganj, a large contingent of police personnel is still deployed in the area and prohibitory orders under section 144 of the criminal procedure code are still in place.
A team of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights led by its chairperson Priyank Kanoongo has been camping in the area since Saturday, Arun Haldar, vice chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes also visited the area and the National Commission for Women has already sought a report.
The Trinamool Congress accuses the BJP of politicising the tragedy for political gains. “The death of the girl was very unfortunate. But the BJP playing politics over the dead body was more unfortunate. BJP MLAs and party workers from outside the area were brought in. They demanded a CBI probe and incited everyone. A narrative is being created that the law and order situation has deteriorated in the state,” Bengal women and child development minister Shashi Panja said.
