Biswabrata Goswami
HANSHKHALI, 12 APRIL: Trinamul Congress MP Mahua Moitra, today, condemned the rape and murder case of a 14-year-old girl at Hanshkhali in Nadia and assured the victim’s family members that the ‘full extent of the law will be implemented’ with ‘zero tolerance’ to punish culprits.
“There is no word to describe the horrible incident. Parents are still in shock. I have assured the family that the full extent of the law would be implemented to bring the perpetrators to justice,” she said.
Her stern remarks come a day after her party chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s victim-blaming comments drew the ire of political parties and locals as she questioned the victim: “Was she raped? Was she pregnant or had a love affair?”
After talking with the family members of the victim at Shyamnagar village, Ms Moitra said, “It does not matter if the girl was in a relationship with the accused. “The boy is an adult and if he has had a sexual relationship with a minor, then that is rape according to the law and he will be prosecuted accordingly,” she said.
Ms Moitra said the police have done a good job and they have taken prompt action soon after they were informed about the heinous crime. “The prime accused has been arrested. After interrogating him, the police have received two more names who were present during the act. Police have also arrested one of them and registered a case under POSCO act. So, the government is trying all efforts to punish the culprits,” she said.
Talking about the political connections of the father of the accused within the ruling TMC, she said the party would take every step to punish the accused. “There is no way he would be shielded,” she said.
Ms Moitra while answering to a question about the unregistered crematorium where the victim was burnt admitted that in every village there are crematoriums which are not registered besides the registered crematoriums. “I do politics in the villages. I know very well that village people has separate eco-system where it is common that people often cremates their family members at such unregistered crematoriums. In this case too, the family members have burnt the body at the unregistered crematorium. But, they have done this to hide the fact. People who gathered during the cremation should inform the police and if they do this, police will take immediate action,” she said.
Ms Moitra was accompanied by Ananya Chakraborty, chairperson of Commission for Protection of Child Rights who also talked with the family members of the victim.
Meanwhile, Rupankar Sengupta, additional SP of Ranaghat Police District said, “Prabhakar Poddar alias Deep, an associate of the prime accused Brojo alias Sohali Goyali was produced before the Ranaghat ACJM court where the magistrate on hearing pleas remanding him in police custody for 13 days. This apart, six more witnesses have submitted their judicial statements under section 164 CrPC.”
Tags: #MahuaMoitra #MamataBanerjee #Rape #Murder #AnanyaChakraborty
