New Delhi: The Supreme Court has taken suo motu cognisance of the Birbhum gangrape case and has issued a notice to the West Bengal government. Calling it 'very disturbing news, the court has asked the West Bengal government to file a report on the case within one week.
The court has also directed the Birbhum district Judge to visit the place and submit a report within a week.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had on Thursday ordered the removal of the district police chief after the 20-year-old woman was allegedly gangraped by 13 men overnight on the orders of the village council. In a horrific sequence of events, she was raped as a punishment for not being able to pay the fine for falling in love with a boy outside her community.
The police went soft on the accused who had pleaded not guilty and did not bother to even ask for police custody after arresting them. "We will make fresh appeals for police custody of the accused as soon as possible," IG (Western Range) West Bengal Siddhinath Gupta said.
The couple was tied to a tree all night long on Monday by a self-professed village court which imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 on each of them. The survivor alleged that as per the diktat of the village headman who led the kangaroo court, 12 village men took turns to rape her all through the night on Tuesday since her family failed to pay up the requisite amount.
"I was raped by men who were of my father's age upon instructions of the village headman," the gangrape survivor said. She has been admitted to the district hospital and is now said to be stable.
The government of West Bengal has promised all help in the case. "If she wishes to go back we will help her. But if she doesn't, we have made adequate arrangements in that case too," WB Women and Child Welfare Minister Sashi Panja said
The administrative drama over this shocking incident notwithstanding, the incident brought to the fore one of Bengal's worst kept secrets, the prevalence of Kangaroo Courts to settle local disputes. It also perhaps establishes the government's failure to instill faith in the official judicial system amongst people in the backward areas.
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