‘Bengal cops unwilling to admit rape cases’

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Shobhaa De [1]

There had been a spate of incidents of murders of women and girls in Murshidabad. The bodies of the victims were found allegedly without clothes. The families of the victims and their co-villagers alleged that they were first raped and then murdered. The Murshidabad district police, however, is in denial mode.

“The police has started murder cases, but is unwilling to add rape charge in the FIR,“ minister of state for railway and district Congress president Adhir Chowhdury said. He alleged that the police was constantly trying to dilute the cases. “I have information that Khorjuna victim was also raped but the police is trying to pass it off as only a murder crime,” he added.
On Monday, a tribal woman made a statement in the Kandi court that she was raped on Saturday in Gahira village in Khargram police station. The victim with her relatives had come from Birbhum to work on a road construction project. On Saturday, one Bimal Rajbanshi allegedly forcibly entered her room and raped her.
When she raised an alarm, her brother-in-law rushed to save her but he was brutally beaten by the accused and was admitted to Kandi hospital. The Khargram police, however, said in the medical examination, rape was not confirmed. The frustrated victim, therefore, went to the Kandi court for redressal.
On Sunday morning, the body of 32-year-old housewife was found from an abandoned primary healthy centre in Khorjuna village in Burwan police station area. The villagers, particularly the women, were up in arms
against SP Humayun Kabir when he suggested that she was in a relationship with the accused Prakash Das.
Emulating Kamduni, the women took out a protest rally in Khorjuna on Sunday and Monday.
They insisted that the victim was raped and then killed. They voiced their strong displeasure with Mr Kabir for claiming that she was having an extra-marital affair with the accused. Mr Kabir on Monday said that the accused had made this claim.
On June 15, police recovered the highly decomposed body of a Class 9 student at Sonaganga village in Ranitala police station. In this case also, Mr Kabir insisted that it was just a murder case and the girl was not raped.
The SP explained that the crime was committed because of a love triangle. On June 10, a tribal woman was murdered in Makhaltore village in Salar police station area.
Her father alleged that she was gangraped but the police dismissed his charge.