Youth arrested for raping deaf, mute woman in West Bengal

(MENAFN– IANS) Kolkata, Oct 31 (IANS) A youth was arrested on charges of raping a deaf-mute woman at an abandoned building in Kultali in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal.

Even as the main accused in the case has been arrested, locals had risen up alleging that a local Trinamool Congress Panchayat chief Prahlad Nashkar is said to have pressured family members of the victim to settle the case for Rs 2,00,000.

However, Nashkar has denied the allegations and said he was the first to reach the spot and informed the victim’s family members about the incident.

The victim’s relatives filed a complaint on Wednesday evening. Thereafter, the police started an investigation and based on circumstantial evidence, the suspected youth was arrested.

He will be produced before a district court in South 24 Parganas only on Thursday and the prosecutor will seek his police custody, a district police official said.

In the first week of this month, part of Kultali and adjoining Jaynagar turned into virtual battlefields due to violent protests by locals over the rape and murder of a minor girl there.

At that time, the main accusation from the locals was against the police, who ignored the missing complaint from the victim’s parents. The locals also claimed that if the police had been active in tracking down the minor victim, the heinous crime could have been averted.

The protesters turned violent and attacked the police station. A local police camp was looted and set on fire. The police then had to resort to massive lathi charges to disperse the crowd.