E-Paper
What is West Bengal's Kamduni case, in spotlight amid doctor's rape and murder at Kolkata hospital?
On August 9, a trainee doctor was raped and murdered at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata.
The June 2013 gang rape and murder of a student in West Bengal's Kamduni is in the spotlight amid protests over the August 9 rape and murder of a trainee doctor at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, the state capital.
The Kamduni case was probed by Criminal Investigation Department (CID), West Bengal; Vineet Goyal, now Kolkata's Commissioner of Police, was then the special inspector general (IG) in the CID.
The Kamduni rape and murder case
(1.) On June 7, 2013, a second-year undergraduate student, 20, was returning to her home in Kamduni, near Kolkata. Alone, she was abducted and dragged to a desolate farm.
(2.) Next morning, her mutilated body was found, with private parts ‘ripped apart.'
(3.) Facing protests, the state's Trinamool Congress (TMC) government ordered a probe by the CID.
(4.) Vineet Goyal, special IG, CID, directed inspector Anandamoy Chatterjee, to lead the investigation. Total nine men were arrested, of whom two – Rafiqul Islam and Noor Ali, were acquitted due to ‘lack of evidence,’ while Gopal Naskar died during trial.
(5.) In January 2016, the trial court awarded death sentence to Saiful Ali, Ansar Ali, and Amin Ali, while Sheikh Imanul Islam, Aminur Islam, and Bhola Naskar, got 10 years in jail.
(6.) The presiding judge described it as the ‘rarest of the rare’ crime.
(7.) In October 2023, the Calcutta high court turned the death sentences of Saiful and Ansar to life imprisonment, while Amin was acquitted.
(8.) The three convicts who got life imprisonment, were released, having completed their jail term.
(9.) The HC's division bench noted that the trial court ‘erred’ in awarding the death penalty, as the state ‘failed to prove a conspiracy beyond reasonable doubt.’
(10.) The West Bengal government has challenged the order in the Supreme Court.
