Man arrested for kidnapping and raping a minor girl in Bengal

Calcutta, November 3 (IANS): A man was arrested on charges of kidnapping and raping a minor girl in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal.

The suspect was arrested on Saturday evening.

The accused’s family is said to have links with the Trinamool Congress.

This is the third rape incident involving minor victims reported by the state in the last 24 hours. The previous two took place in Kumargram in Alipurduar district and Domkal in Murshidabad district.

According to the police complaint filed by the victim’s parents, she was abducted, taken to a secluded place and then raped by the suspect while returning from her class on Friday evening.

Although she didn’t tell anyone after returning home, her parents found her in shock. On Saturday evening she tried to commit suicide, but her parents prevented her.

She then told the whole story and that same evening the parents filed a complaint with the police against the suspect. Police then arrested him late Saturday evening. He will not be produced in court until Sunday afternoon and the prosecutor will request his police custody, a local police official said.

It is learned that numerous complaints were previously filed against the accused youth for teasing young girls. A year ago, residents of the locality became enraged after the same victim filed a complaint against the suspect for publicly teasing her.

However, the victim’s father said the accused youth somehow escaped police complaint by publicly apologizing.

Local BJP legislator from Gaighata Subrata Thakur accused the family members of the arrested youths and the local Trinamool Congress activists of threatening the members of the victim’s family since the time the complaint was filed.

However, local Trinamool Congress leader Prasenjit Ghosh has denied the allegations and said in such cases the law will take its course.

West Bengal has been in the news for the past three months due to repeated reports of rapes and murders.

The most high-profile tragedy was the gruesome rape and murder of a junior doctor of Calcutta’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital inside the hospital premises in August.