Nadia rape case: And ‘Justice For All’ remains a pipe dream in Mamata Banerjee’s West Bengal

What was reported as an alleged rape case and the subsequent death of a minor in West Bengal, has snowballed into a major controversy. It has elements of cover-up, political ramifications, a chief minister’s insensitive remarks and a can of worms that reveal how the case was mishandled at every level.

Two new facts have emerged:

1.     The crematorium was illegal. It has no proper records of those cremated. And neither can it issue a death certificate. Yet, it has been operating in the village since 2015.

2.     The doctor who treated the distressed girl is a quack. He is a BA Pass. He has been treating patients and doling out prescriptions with impunity. He denies knowing the girl was “bleeding”.

Locals said that a committee, which is in charge of the crematorium, is untraceable since the incident erupted.

This is where politics comes in. Since the main accused is the son of a TMC politician, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee did not blink twice before issuing clarifications and making thoughtless statements.

She says: “Was she actually raped? Was she pregnant? Was there some other reason? Did someone slap her? Was she sick? It is known that the boy and the girl were in love. Even her family and neighbours knew about it. Isn’t it a fact,” she asked, turning to state Director General of Police (DGP) Manoj Malviya who was present there at a public function.

What the chief minister conveniently forgot was minors do not have the right to consent. So, her insinuation of “consensual sexual activity” does not hold any legal ground. This is clearly stated in the Indian Penal Code IPC Section 375(6).

The law says that a man is said to commit “rape” if he engages in a sexual act “with or without her consent when she is under 18 years of age”. As such, sexual activity with a minor, is by definition an “act of statutory rape.”

The 14-year-old girl had gone to a friend’s place at Hanskhali village in Nadia district to attend his birthday celebrations. She came back bleeding and in poor shape.

The birthday party was that of local TMC leader Samar Goala’s son Brojo Gopal Goala (21) on the night of 4 April. She died on 5 April. The victim’s family alleged the body was cremated without an autopsy under pressure from a local Trinamool Congress panchayat leader, whose son Brojo is the prime accused in the case.

Media reports say that the father of the Nadia rape victim claimed the cremation of the minor girl was done under pressure.

TV footage revealed prime accused Brojo identifying the room in which the incident happened. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team has taken charge of the investigation.

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TMC leader Samar Goala’s son Braja Gopal Goala, who is the prime accused in West Bengal’s Nadia gang rape case, was arrested on 12 April. A second accused, Prabhakar Poddar, too, was arrested based on Braja Gopal Goala’s statement.

The police have already recovered a bedsheet from that room, which had blood marks. They have also collected three small pieces of human bones from the ashes which were found in the crematorium. These samples were handed over to the CBI.

A police complaint was lodged five days after the incident (10 April). The Calcutta High Court ordered a probe by the CBI into the case on 12 April.

The victim’s sister reportedly told the police that the victim was having an affair with the accused and the latter had invited her (the victim) to his birthday party at his residence on 4 April. According to preliminary reports, the victim was allegedly given alcohol and then raped by the accused and two of his friends.

The victim’s family members were allegedly warned by the father of the accused, who is a local strongman, and his followers as well as other Trinamool functionaries against going to the police. The body of the victim was hastily cremated.

Goala, the Trinamool politician, and his family members went absconding when the police complaint was finally lodged when the neighbours showed solidarity.

But what’s most appalling is Mamata Banerjee continued to make her own accusations. By doing so she even targeted the victim’s family, saying they went late to the police.

“I cannot stop boys and girls from falling in love. This is not Uttar Pradesh. I cannot start a love jihad programme. It is a matter of personal liberty,” she said.

Mamata Banerjee has a history of making such remarks. But why does she do it?

A straight answer to that is she doesn’t want any kind of mud to stick to the Trinamool Congress. She sees this as a localised incident. Boy meets girl. They fall in love. It really doesn’t matter if the girl is a minor. Too bad she gets brutalised and then dies.

Could the state have prevented it? No. But it could have dealt with it in a more sensitive and mature manner.

Let’s refer to another incident of 2012 where Mamata Banerjee left her indelible stamp again.

This was the Park Street rape case of February 2012 where a woman was gang-raped by five men inside a moving car in the early hours of 5 February 2012. She filed a police complaint on 9 February and a medical examination on 14 February confirmed rape.

But Banerjee dismissed the crime as a “fabricated incident” (shajano ghotona, she said in Bengali) aimed at maligning her government.

This phrase “shajano ghotona” became some form of a catch-phrase to evade responsibility; to dismiss such incidents as par for the course and not preventable.

Another colleague of the chief minister suggested the victim was a sex worker and the incident was a fallout of “a dispute over monetary matters”.

The domino effect of disconcerting developments continued. Kolkata Police’s Joint Commissioner (Crime), Damayanti Sen, was shunted out and posted as DIG (Training) for solving the case and arresting the accused. She was ‘punished’ for exposing the “shajano ghotona” story.

In June 2013, Banerjee dubbed women who were demanding stern action against criminals who brutally raped and murdered a college girl at Kamduni in North 24 Parganas as “CPI(M) supporters”.

In 2013, during a debate in the West Bengal Assembly about the rising cases of rapes in the state, the chief minister pinned the blame on the rising population, increase in shopping malls and multiplexes. So, there you go, “And Justice For All” would remain a pipe dream.

This is Part 1 of the two-part series.

The author is CEO of nnis. Views expressed are personal.​

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