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How was Durgapur survivor out at 12:30am, asks Mamata. But was she? What's known
Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal CM, has sparked a row with her remark asking how the survivor of a recent alleged gangrape case of Durgapur was out at 12:30 am.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has sparked a political firestorm with her recent comments questioning how the survivor of the alleged Durgapur medical college gangrape case was out at 12:30 am, a remark being widely criticised as victim-blaming.
The comment has triggered massive outrage with many, including opposition leaders, condemning it as insensitive and out of step with both the survivor’s police complaint and the accounts provided by her friends and family that suggest the incident took place much before midnight. Five people have been arrested in connection with the case.
Also Read | ‘Trying to victim shame’: BJP slams Mamata over 'out at 12:30 am' remark on Durgapur gangrape
The remarks by Mamata Banerjee were over the allegations by a private medical college student who hails from Odisha's Jaleswar that she was raped by some men outside the campus of the institute in Durgapur on Friday night. The incident took place when the second-year student went out with one of her friends for dinner, as per the police.
What did Mamata Banerjee say?
Mamata Banerjee on Sunday asked private colleges in the state to not allow women to step out in the late hours, asking how the survivor of the alleged Durgapur medical college gang rape case “was outside the campus at 12:30 am”.
“She was studying in a private medical college... all the private medical are whose responsibility? how they came out in the night at 12:30?... it happened, so far I know, in the forest area... investigation is on,” Mamata Banerjee said on Sunday while addressing the media over the case.
Mamata Banerjee said while she is shocked to see the incident, private medical colleges need to take care of their students, “especially the girl child” who should “not be allowed to come out” at night.
“... they have to protect themselves also,” she added.
Mamata Banerjee's thoughts were echoed by another leader of her party - Saugata Roy - who said on Monday women shouldn't go out late at night and that the police cannot provide security "at every inch".
Did Durgapur incident take place at 12:30?
None of the details out in the case so far indicate that the incident took place post midnight, as suggested by chief minister Mamata Banerjee in her remarks on Sunday.
While the parents of the woman said they were informed by her friends about the incident at around 9-9:30 pm on Friday, the complaint filed by the father cited in an NDTV report, states that the sexual assault took place around 8 pm when the woman was out with a college friend.
The parents, who travelled to Durgapur after being informed by her classmates late in the night on Friday, reportedly named the student with whom their daughter had gone out - and some of his associates - in the police complaint, though they couldn’t identify the “associates.”
“We received a call from her classmates around 9.30 pm. Her classmates informed us that she was raped and that we should immediately come to Durgapur. We reached the campus on Saturday morning. She is not well and is admitted in the hospital. The miscreants demanded money to return her mobile,” an earlier HT report quoted the father.
The woman's mother alleged that she went out to have food on her friend’s request outside the campus and three people started following them, after which her friend abandoned her and fled.
"My daughter also started running but couldn’t trace her friend. When the three men found my daughter alone, they took her to a nearby forest area. Two more people joined them. One of them committed the crime and snatched her mobile. She was threatened that she would be killed if she dared to shout,” the report quoted the woman’s mother.
BJP tears into TMC over Mamata Banerjee's remark
The remarks by Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee have been deemed anti-women by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which has called the chief minister a “blot on womanhood”.
BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition in the state assembly Suvendu Adhikari said asked Mamata Banerjee why was she “trying to clarify” her 'Outdated Medieval Dictat' that "girls should not be allowed to go outside at night"
“Your words are an attempt to mask your failure as an Administrator. Victim Shaming has become your State Policy, where Women are being blamed for their traumatic experience and torture, to divert attention from the nonexistent Law and Order in the State of West Bengal,” Adhikari wrote on X.
BJP national spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia wrote on X, “Shameless @MamataOfficial a blot on womanhood, even more for being a CM…After RG Kar and Sandeshkhali, now this horrific case of rape and instead of justice, she blames the victim.”
Union minister Kiren Rijiju also tore into the West Bengal chief minister and if the statement was made by a BJP CM, an unbearable situation in the country would have been created by what he termed “illiberal gang”.
“Imagine, if this statement was made by a BJP Chief Minister! The whole echo-system and self declared liberal journalists (actually illiberal gang) would have created unbearable situation in the country,” Rijiju wrote on X.
BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj said at a presser on Monday that CM Mamata Banerjee justifies that rape. "She says that women should not go out late at night...TMC has become synonymous with a regressive mindset," Bansuri Swaraj said.
Sovana Mohanty, chairperson of the Odisha state commission for women said Mamata Banerjee does not feel the pain of the survivor and urged her to ensure safety for women in West Bengal.
