AIDWA Demands Action in the
Gang-Rape case of Adivasi
Girl
The
following is the press statement
issued by the All India
Democratic Women’s Association on January 23.
It
is shocking that not a day passes in West
Bengal
without one or the other incident of violence against women.
The latest
incident has taken place in Labhpur, Birbhum on January 21,
when a 20 year-old
adivasi girl from the village of Rajrampur was abducted and
gang-raped by 12
persons from the same village as she had dared to have a
relationship with a
non-tribal boy. This was done after a kangaroo-court called
apparently by some
village elders sought to extract a fine of Rs 50,000 from the
girl’s family for
this supposed offence, and the family pleaded their inability
to pay the same.
The couple were reportedly brought before the kangaroo-court
bound hand and
foot and even after the boy pleaded that he wanted to marry
the girl, the
perpetrators ignored him and gave the verdict for the girl to
be raped as a
punishment by those present. She was dragged to an adjoining
room and attacked
by a number of persons from her own village, and left severely
injured in front
of her house. The next day she went with her mother and lodged
an FIR at
Labhpur Thana, after which she was admitted to the PHC and
then shifted to Siuri
District Hospital. The police
have
so far arrested 11 persons on the basis of the FIR. The AIDWA
has led a
deputation to the SP and several protest rallies have been
conducted against
the growing atmosphere of insecurity, especially for women in
West Bengal.
Although
some
arrests have been made in this particular case, it is
necessary that the
administration makes immediate arrangements for the full
security of the
survivor and her family. All the perpetrators and instigators
must be arrested
and a proper investigation conducted. It
is increasingly the case in several districts of West Bengal including Birbhum that
there is a growing atmosphere of
violence, with gangs of armed anti-socials taking the law in
their own hands.
This is because many of them enjoy the political patronage of
the ruling party,
as a result of which the police and the administration turn a
blind eye to
them. Consequently, lawlessness has been increasing at all
levels, since there
is now a feeling that such crimes can go unpunished. The AIDWA
expresses its
grave concern about the situation, and stands by all those who
are victims of
the growing crimes against women in the state.
People's Democracy