Kolkata: The father of the 16-year-old gang rape victim who died in a city hospital after attempting suicide, today alleged that Kolkata Police asked him to leave the state and return to Bihar with his daughter's body.
"The police officials last night threatened me and asked me to leave the state and return to Bihar with the body. The police officials and some local toughs also threatened that if I did not they would stop me from driving my taxi," said the victim's father, who is a taxi driver.
There was a tussle between the Left parties and Kolkata Police last night over the cremation of the body of the girl, who died in a city hospital on Wednesday due to injuries sustained when attempting to set herself on fire at her home on December 23.
The Left leadership will meet Governor M K Narayanan during the day over the issue and submit a deputation, party sources said. The girl's father, who is close to the CITU, said it was decided by the family and the trade union that the body would be kept in Peace Haven mortuary in the city and a condolence rally would be taken out during the day. But the body was taken away forcefully by the police for cremation while being taken to the mortuary late last night without the family's consent, the girl's father and CITU sources said.
"The police took away the body forcefully and tried to cremate it at Nimatala Ghat crematorium but could not as the death certificate was with the girl's father. After the news spread we too rushed to the crematorium and protested forcing the police to retreat," CPI(M) state secretariat member Rabin Deb said.
"The police gave the excuse that the condolence rally with the body cannot be allowed as there is dearth of policemen due to New Year celebrations," he alleged.
Rubbishing the allegations Joint Commissioner of Police (HQ) Rajeev Mishra told PTI, "It is a totally false allegation. Whatever was done was done in consultation with Bidhahnagar police, under whose jurisdiction the girl's house falls, and the family members. We did not forcefully take away any body."
Deputy Commissioner of Bidhannagar Police (Detective Department) Arnab Ghosh said, "The incident happened in the jurisdiction of Kolkata police so we can't comment on it." The body is presently in the custody of the family and CITU, which has decided to go ahead with the condolence rally in the city this afternoon.
The girl's family has also alleged negligence by R G Kar Medical College Hospital, where she had been admitted. Ruling Trinamool Congress has accused the Left Front of launching a "false propaganda" against the state government.
"The CPI(M) is alienated from the people and they are desperately trying to launch a wrong propaganda against the government over this (gang rape) issue. But the people will not accept this," TMC General Secretary Mukul Roy said. He said the girl's death was a sad incident and the administration did whatever was necessary to bring the culprits to book.
"The accused are in jail and a charge sheet has been filed against them."
Doctors at the hospital said the girl was admitted with nearly 80 per cent burns and damaged lungs and she died at around 2 PM yesterday. The girl had been gang raped at Madhyamgram in the northern fringes of the city. She was first gang raped on October 25 and found lying in a field near her house. She was forcibly taken away by the same gang and raped and brutalised when she was returning home with her parents after lodging a complaint at the local police station.
The severely injured girl was later found lying unconscious near the railway track at Madhyamgram the same day. Her family had changed residence from Madhyamgram to Dum Dum in the city after the brutal incident.
Six people were arrested after local residents demanded immediate action against the gang, but the victim's family members alleged that on December 23, a close associate of the gang leader Chottu had visited their Dum Dum residence and threatened them with dire consequences if the girl did not withdraw her complaint. She attempted suicide the same day.
Man held for online harassment of girl, created fake FB account and posted pictures
Visakhapatnam: A 28-year-old man Sirigudu Kishore of New Colony in the city was arrested on Tuesday on the charges of defaming his girlfriend by posting her photographs and her father’s phone numbers on the Facebook with a fake account.
Kishore, an M.Com post-graduate, was employed as a computer operator at the Prakash parcel service. He developed friendship with the victim, even though he was engaged with a distant relative already.
The girl fell in love with Kishore believing his words. However, the girl refused to continue friendship with him after she came to know that Kishore would marry another girl.
With an intention to take revenge, Kishore downloaded the photographs of the girl from her Facebook account and posted them on the fake account.
He also posted the phone numbers and abusive messages in the name of the girl and asking the prospective customers to call the phone numbers.
Some persons started calling the girl after seeing her images on the Facebook. Irritated over calls, the girl lodged a complaint with II Town police station on December 4 and subsequently the case was transferred to Cyber Crime Investigation Cell (CCIC).
Based on the complaint, CCIC inspector K. Satyanarayana Rao and his team investigated the case.
Additional deputy commissioner of police (Special Branch), Mohammad Khan said that based on IP address of the accused, police arrested Kishore near Lakshmi Talkies on Monday evening and seized an assembled CPU and a communications modem from him.
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