West Bengal: Clashes erupt in North Dinajpur over rape, murder of minor girl

On Saturday, clashes erupted between locals and police in Kaliagunj, North Dinajpur district, following the alleged gang rape and murder of a Dalit girl. On the scene were police and security personnel. According to SP Dinajpur Sana Akhtar, the victim’s body was discovered in Kaliyaganj, after which the police swung into action and arrested the two accused.

“We received information that a girl was missing since Thursday night. We started conducting searches at all railway stations, and bus stands. Later, a body was found in Kailyaganj. Two people have been arrested based on the complaint given by the deceased’s family.”

Earlier on Friday, Bharatiya Janata Party Leader Suvendu Adhikari accused the police of not allowing the BJP MLAs to meet the victim’s family in the state assembly. He also charged the cops with “diluting” the evidence.

The National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) chairperson, Priyank Kanoongo, also took cognizance of the alleged gang rape and murder of a minor Dalit girl and stated that they will meet with the victim’s family and speak with the officials and doctors who performed the victim’s post-mortem.

NCPCR Chairperson Kanoongo said, “We will meet the victim’s family, talk to officials and doctors who did the post-mortem of the victim and prepare the report. Government should be sensitive, especially in the case of girls.”
“It’s pathetic the way victim’s body was dragged,” he added.

Taking to Twitter, Kanoongo said, “The NCPCR has taken cognizance of News Reports of gang rape and murder of a Dalit girl child in Raiganj, Uttar Dinajpur of West Bengal. A fact-finding team will be visiting there to conduct an inquiry.”

A statement issued by the NCPCR chief office read, “We have received information about the gang-rape incident and murder of a girl child in North Dinajpur in West Bengal. We have received a lot of information from many sources. It is a heinous murder and we are going to investigate it. I myself will go to North Dinajpur with my team”.

It added, “Our team will reach there tomorrow. We will investigate this incident by going there tomorrow evening. We are trying to contact the government through the governor’s house to cooperate with us in the investigation. This is a case of murder of a girl child and getting her justice.”

The NCPCR also claimed that despite being informed about the incident, the state Chief Secretary and the Collector of North Dinajpur have not responded. The statement went on to say that punishing the perpetrators is the only way to put a stop to such incidents in West Bengal.