West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressing doubt about the case of a minor girl’s death, which her family has attributed to gangrape, has created furore in the political circles.
Banerjee yesterday cast doubts on the details in the gangrape-murder of the 14-year-old girl in Nadia district, seeking to know whether the teenager was raped or was she already pregnant. She also wondered if the Class 9 student died after being slapped by someone.
“The police are yet to understand the cause of the death. I had asked them. Will you call it rape or was she pregnant? Was it (the fallout of) a love affair? Have you enquired about these? This is an unfortunate incident,” Banerjee said while inaugurating the Biswa Banga Mela Prangan in Kolkata.
She said that her family members and local people knew about the affair between the girl and the accused.
“You (girl’s family) also conducted the last rites of the body. I am talking as a layman. From where will they (police) get the evidence whether she was raped or she was pregnant or there was any other reason such as she was slapped by someone after which she fell ill,” Banerjee said.
Mamata’s statement attracted sharp reactions from the Opposition parties, including the Congress, CPM and the BJP, calling her remarks “unfortunate” and “insensitive”.
The opposition BJP panned Banerjee for her comment and wondered whether her remarks were aimed at influencing the probe. “Shocking statement by Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, who trivialises the brutal rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl in Nadia’s Hanskhali. She questions the victim and asks if it was a love affair or a case of unplanned pregnancy gone awry! Because the accused is TMC leader’s son,” senior BJP leader and the party’s co-in charge of West Bengal, Amit Malviya, tweeted.
Echoing him, the Leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari said such kind of comments only prove how Banerjee is trying to influence the probe and shield the culprits. “When any such incident occurs in BJP-ruled states, she is the first to protest against it. But when similar incidents take place in West Bengal, she tries to shield the culprits. It is shameful that despite being a woman chief minister, she is making such comments. This is the real picture of the lawless situation of Bengal,” he said.
The CPI(M) and the Congress also slammed Banerjee for her comments. Leader of the Congress party in Lok Sabha and state Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury claimed that several such incidents happening in West Bengal go unreported. “We don’t get to know about them. Now we have come to know about this incident. What has happened is horrific. The ruling party is trying to influence the probe,” he said.
Senior CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty alleged that the incident proves there is lawlessness in Bengal.
The ruling TMC condemned the incident but said it should not be politicised. “The police are investigating the matter and have also made an arrest. Let the investigation be over. The opposition should not try to politicise the matter,” TMC spokesperson and state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said.
The girl’s mother had on Sunday told reporters that from the sequence of events and after talking to the people present at the party, “we are sure she was gang-raped by the accused and his friends.” She also alleged that a group of people forcibly took the minor’s body for cremation even before her death certificate was issued.
Meanwhile, a petition was filed before the Calcutta High Court on Monday seeking a CBI probe into the alleged rape and resultant death of the minor girl. The petitioner’s lawyer said the matter is likely to be mentioned before the court on Tuesday.