A day after a man in a police complaint alleged that his wife was raped by a local TMC panchayat leader at the party office in Narayangadh area of Paschim Medinipur district, district Superintendent of Police Dhritiman Sarkar said the investigation was on.
“The matter is sub-judice. The investigation is going on. No unnecessary law and order situation over this will be tolerated,” the SP told The Indian Express.
Makrampur Panchayat pradhan Lakshman Sit, who has been accused of raping the woman, has also filed a complaint with the police, claiming that the FIR has been registered to defame him and done with “vested interests”.
In the complaint, the husband of the woman alleged, “On Sunday around 10 am, my wife went to the TMC party office… The office door was closed and my wife was brutally tortured. She was also raped.”
The local BJP leadership claimed that they rescued the woman and admitted her to Medinipur Medical College. They also said that the woman was once a BJP member.
The BJP, meanwhile, accused the police of diluting the probe. BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul in a post on X wrote: “…the administration has taken no action against the accused TMC leader. Police are now claiming that the initial medical report does not provide any concrete evidence of rape. However, it is evident that this report has been fabricated under pressure from the ruling party. It is a well-known tactic of the Mamata Banerjee-led administration to manipulate doctors and police officers into producing reports that favor Trinamool criminals. This is nothing but a shameless cover-up, a desperate attempt to protect a rapist just because he belongs to the ruling party.”
“The people of Bengal will not tolerate this anymore. Women’s safety cannot be sacrificed for the political survival of Trinamool’s goons. This incident proves yet again that under Mamata Banerjee’s rule, criminals have full state protection while women have none. The fight for justice will not stop—the truth will come out, no matter how desperately the government tries to bury it,” she added. The TMC leadership, however, dismissed the BJP’s charges. “If such an incident is proven true, the party will act accordingly and police will take legal action,” Sujay Hazra, TMC’s Paschim Medinipur unit chief, said.
Meanwhile, the National Commission for Women took cognizance of the incident. “Necessary directions have been given to the SP @westmdppolice for immediate action,” it said.