Days after the horrific incident of rape and murder of a minor by a TMC worker was reported from West Bengal’s Hanskhali, a similar incident occurred on Thursday in Paschim Medinipur’s Kalukhanra.
According to the reports, Trinamool Congress Panchayat member Avijit Mondal has been arrested for molesting, torturing and attempting to rape a differently-abled woman at Kalukhanra village.
The incident took place at Pingla police station in West Midnapore on Monday. The differently-abled woman went to her elder sister’s house in Kalukhara village. The girl was abducted and sexually abused by the Panchayat member Mondal when she had gone to the pond to wash the dishes.
On the next day, the victim was examined at Midnapore Medical College and Hospital. A complaint was filed against the TMC member by the family. On Wednesday, police arrested Mondal and produced him before a Midnapore court.
The accused, Avijit Mondal, has been sent to three days of police custody.
Reacting to the incident, West Bengal Water Resources minister Manas Ranjan Bhunia called rape a “heinous crime’ and asked not to politicise the issue.
“Rape, torture of women is a heinous crime. If you politicalize who is from Trinamool or who is from other parties, then it is a difficult matter. Rape is wrong. He will be arrested, he will be judged. Whoever he is or whatever party he belongs to,” Bhunia said.
The incident comes days after a minor girl died after allegedly being raped earlier in the month in Hanskhali in Nadia district. The minor girl, a student of Class 9, was raped on April 4 during a birthday party at the house of a TMC panchayat official’s son.
The girl died from heavy bleeding, and her body was purportedly cremated by the accused forcefully. There was a huge uproar against Mamata Banerjee-led government across the state. Following this, two persons, including the TMC leader’s son, were arrested thus far. The Calcutta High Court ordered a CBI probe into the incident.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had stoked a huge controversy by expressing doubts over the cause of the minor girl’s death. She had tried to downplay the brutal rape and murder of a 14-year-old girl and had stated that everyone was aware of the girl’s love affair, so one is left to wonder here whether it was an actual rape or pregnancy that went wrong.