NCW team in Bengal to probe rape cases

Failing to get Action Taken Report (ATR) from West Bengal government on rising rape and sexual assault cases, which hit the national media, the worried National Commission for Women (NCW) is sending a team to enquire such cases on its own.

This was announced by the secretary of the NCW, Anita Agnihotri, who happens to be a noted Bengali author to her own credit.

Anita informed that the team, consisting of Wansuk Syiem, Nirmala Sawant Prabhalkar, another NCW member and herself, will meet the Chief Secretary, the Police Commissioner, Director General of Police and also the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

NCW Chairperson Mamta Sharma told reporters that NCW had sought Action Taken Reports from the state government as the Commission is perturbed by 8 sensitive rape cases in February. But only acknowledgment from Chief Minister’s office, not ATR, reached NCW.

So, the Commission took suo motu cognizance of some of the cases and decided to send its team. Sharma wants thorough probe into the incidents and fixing responsibility for actions not being taken in due time.

Agnihotri wrote a letter dated March 22 to the state government stating, “The spate of atrocities repeatedly created condition of insecurity for Women in the state.”

She also informed that the NCW has taken cognizance of the cases like Park Street rape case, Ketugram train rape case, rape of a deaf and dumb girl by a doctor at Bankura Medical College hospital, rape of two tribal girls at Suri and Jungle Mahal, sexual assault on a 5 year old girl at Namkhana, rape and murder of Munia Devi at Howrah and sexual assault on some ICDS workers in South 24-Parganas.

The team may also look into the killing of a police constable at Bisharpara, when the victim tried to save his niece from the rapists.

Meanwhile, Moitree, an umbrella women’s rights groups, took out an impressive rally in South Kolkata demanding apology from the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Sports Minister Madan Mitra for branding the rape cases of Park Street and Ketugram as ‘fabricated’ even before police enquiry on the cases.

Moitree activist and member of Jiveeka Development Society Dolan Ganguly said, “We trusted our CM who herself is a woman. But the way she dealt with the Park Street rape case is disappointing. How can she term it ‘fabricated story’? Mitra has even painted the victim in bad light. Both of them must say ‘sorry’ in public.”  

Moitree raised question on the role of police, administration and responsibility of political leaders in cases of rape and assault on women.

“We have seen cases in North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas where if the culprit is politically and socially influential the police themselves pass information helping the culprit to escape,” Ganguly said.

Interestingly, culprits of Ketugram case, where the widow victim was raped by the arms wielding goon in a moving train in public and then raped again in a nearby bushes while she tried to flee, are yet to be arrested.

The widow helped the police to sketch the criminals, both of them now belong to TMC, are roaming free.  Kader, the main offender in Park Street rape case, is still at large. The rapist doctor of the Bankura medical college got bail as the deaf and dumb girl ‘didn’t identify him’, said district police.

However, mother of the victim said, “We were not told what we have to do. She was frightened seeing him in front of her. I identified, but the police told, it would not help as I was not present at the time of crime.”

The records from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) put West Bengal in second position in India in cases of rape and sexual assault. More than 21,300 cases of rape were registered in 2010, which is 36 per cent more than what was registered in 2006. On the other hand, NCRB data says, there is 1.8 per cent drop in case of conviction in rape and sexual assault cases in this state.

Meanwhile, the two praised IPS officers, whose commendable job cracked the Park Street case and led to arrest of some of the involved, have reportedly sought state government’s nod for their transfer to central cadre on deputation.

Jt Commissioner of Police (Crime) Damayanti Sen and Jt. Commissioner of Police (Head Quarters) Javed Shamim, were reportedly reprimanded by the Chief Minister soon after the case was solved.

The two-day fact finding mission of the NCW team is likely to submit its report to the Chairperson within 10 days after talking to victims.

Expectedly, the report will recommend actions against those involved in these cases and record their remarks on the role of the police, administration and political leaders.