courtesy: indiatoday
Encouraged by the Supreme Court entertaining the kins of two BJP workers reportedly murdered by TMC workers during the post-poll violence in West Bengal has led more women to move to the Supreme Court, narrating their alleged horrific gang-rape by the ruling party members and seeking SIT probe into incidents of violence and the alleged inaction of police.
Incidents of gang rape and murders that went on with impunity for an fortnight in the state after TMC scored a massive victory in the assembly elections was similar to the pro active action taken by the SC in post-Godhra communal riot cases in Gujarat.
A 60-year old woman narrated the manner in which the TMC workers ran amuck after the declaration of Assembly poll results and barged into her house in a village in Purba Medinipur and gang-raped her in front of her six year old grandson before robbing her household of all goods on the night of May 4-5.
On May 3, after being threatened by 100-200 TMC workers to bomb her house, her daughter-in law left the house the next day. She alleged in the application before the SC of the gang rape. She said that she was found in an unconscious state the next morning by her neighbours. The police had allegedly refused to lodge an FIR against this mishap. She said that the “TMC workers used rape as a weapon to take revenge and to silence the political rivals.”
She mentioned that “rape was employed as a strategy to terrorise the enemy civilian population,” “to demoralise the enemy troops.” “not merely the said crimes were facilitated by the inaction of the state authorities.” Only one from the five accused were named by the police, she reported and asked for an investigation by the SIT or CBI.
A 17-year-old minor girl from the scheduled caste community alleged gang rape by TMC workers on may 9, she said she was not only gang raped and left to die in the jungle after it but the TMC local leader Bahadur SK came to her house the next day to threaten her family from lodging a complaint, and said he would burn their house and kill them if they did. She alleged all this in an application to the Supreme Court. The minor also mentioned how she was being kept in a child welfare home and how her family was not allowed to meet her. “Instead of sympathising to her family, the police is pressuring her family,” she said and requested for an independent probe.
Another women, Purnima Mondal, whose husband was allegedly killed by TMC workers during the post-poll violence, had said to the SC that her husband who had campaigned for BJP who was identified and assaulted in the broad day light on May 14. She was made to witness the assault of her husband and brother-in-law while she was struggling to survive the rape attempt. Her husband had passed away on May 16.
She as well mentioned how the police was pressuring the applicant into filing a weak complaint and finally succeeded in procuring such a complaint from the injured brother of the deceased.
The women said that the police has lodged a complaint without the details of the incident and the role of the representative, who led the violent mob which attacked the applicants family, nor the reference of the attempt to rape was mentioned in the complaint. The mob was led by Kaalu Sheikh as mentioned by the applicant.
When after the cremation of her husband, she went to the police station to make a detailed complaint, Purnima Mondal alleged, “the police not only refused to record her statement despite being an eye witness and a victim herself but they after abusing and threatening her, they forced her out of the police station.