BJP activist's wife gang-raped in West Bengal's Patulia; FIR filed against unidentified men, but party blames TMC for incident

The wife of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activist was allegedly gang-raped by four unidentified men in Patulia, North 24 Parganas district, in West Bengal on Wednesday, the police said. Amar Banerjee, the husband of the 40-year-old survivor, lodged an FIR at the Khardah Police Station. The incident allegedly took place on Wednesday at 8 pm at Patulia Shiv Mandir area in Khardah. [caption id=“attachment_4412677” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. PTI[/caption] “We received a complaint that a 40-year-old woman was gang-raped by four men. We have recovered important evidence from the spot. However, we are yet to receive medical confirmation of the rape and the interrogation is underway,” said a police official of Barrackpore Commissionerate. The husband of the rape survivor, who filed the FIR, stated that the woman while returning home from her son’s coaching centre when she was forcibly intercepted by two unidentified men. They took her to a secluded area, near an under-construction house. Two other men were also present at the spot. All aforementioned culprits physically and verbally abused her. In the complaint to the police, he also mentioned that the survivor was found in torn clothes and was forcibly gang-raped. The husband claimed since he belonged to a “political party”, the miscreants issued life threats to him. The survivor has been admitted to Panihati State General Hospital. The incident has surfaced in the wake of rising criticism against Trinamool Congress (TMC) led West Bengal government over the issue of women safety. “This is alarming. Such vindictive tendencies before the election affect peace and order. Political antagonism impacts personal, familial and social life. The government should be alert,” said BJP leader Sankar Chatterjee. Though the identity of the alleged rapists is not yet known, Chatterjee held the TMC responsible for the incident, also stating that the BJP worker’s wife was raped to terrorise the people. However, TMC dismissed the charges as “completely baseless”. “The BJP is cooking up this allegations to malign us,” said Nirmal Kanti Ghose. The Police has initiated an investigation to nab the culprits, but no one has been arrested yet. With inputs from 101Reporters