‘Her life in danger’: Why Bengal rape survivor's father wants her shifted to Odisha

The survivor, a second-year MBBS student, is currently undergoing treatment at a hospital in West Bengal's Durgapur.

The father of a 23-year-old woman who was allegedly gangraped in West Bengal's Durgapur on Sunday appealed to the Odisha government to shift his daughter to Bhubaneshwar, citing a threat to her life.

Without taking any names, he said that they will kill his daughter and while her health condition has improved, there is still danger to her life. "I cannot trust them," he said.(AFP/Representative image)

The father appealed to CM Mohan Charan Manjhi to shift her to her home state, stating that the family felt unsafe in West Bengal.

The survivor, a second-year MBBS student, is currently undergoing treatment at a hospital in West Bengal's Durgapur. While her parents live in Jaleshwar in Odisha's Balasore district, they rushed to West Bengal after learning about the incident.

"I appeal to Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi to help shift my daughter to Bhubaneswar. I fear that her life may be in danger," the father told news agency PTI over a call from Durgapur.

As per officials, the Dalit woman was allegedly raped by three men while she had gone out of the campus with a male student around 8 pm on Friday. Survivor's father said that the family felt unsafe in West Bengal and was “too frightened to trust anyone” there.

Without taking any names, he said that they will kill his daughter and while her health condition has improved, there is still danger to her life. "I cannot trust them," he said.

"I am hiding in Durgapur, while my wife, a diabetic, stands at the bedside of our daughter in the hospital," he said further.

The plea was made to the Odisha government after a team of officials from Balasore visited the hospital on Saturday. The team was sent in the direction of CM Manjhi, who spoke to the victim's father over the phone the same night.

Asked about the West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee's remarks on stating that girls should not venture out of campus at night, the survivor's father said that this is completely false. "I see an attempt to suppress the incident. My daughter had not gone out at midnight; it was just 8 pm on Friday," he added.

The father also alleged that the male companion who accompanied his daughter fled the scene during the attack and did not alert anyone. He said that she was attacked between 8 and 9 pm, and the miscreants dragged her into a jungle area.