Kolkata rape case: Cop denies refit in city police

Rubbishing aside the rift in the ranks of Kolkata Police over the Park Street rape case, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), Damayanti Sen said on Monday that there has been no ‘division’ within the police and credited the whole organisation for their effort in cracking the case.

“Several newspapers have been reporting that I have been working on the case as an individual going against my organisation.

“This is absolutely false. I have been successful only because of my team. This is not my individual success,” Sen said at Writers Building after her meeting with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Monday morning.  

The investigation is still on and we are yet to arrest more accused persons.
But more than the probe, my personal life has become important for the media which I feel very disturbed about. I wanted to clarify this to the CM (Banerjee). So I came here,” she said.

Sen, along with fellow Joint Commissioner (Head Quarters) Jawed Shamim, rushed to the state secretariat Writers' Buildings Monday to "clarify" her position to Banerjee. Police Commissioner R K Pachnanda was also present in the meeting.

The controversy came to the fore when on Thursday, despite the Police Commissioner’s remarks that the allegation of rape by a 37 year old Anglo-Indian woman a ‘campaign to malign the police and the government’, which was echoed by the Chief Minister.

Damayanti Sen said that there were some 'technical discrepancies' in the allegation and a day later, said " Something must have occurred in the early hours of Feb 6 and police are thoroughly investigating all aspects”.

The government and a part of Kolkata police became red-faced after it was proved that the mother of two children was really raped on that day and Kolkata police arrested three person in this connection and is looking for the main accused who allegedly has taken shelter in another state.  

Sen, who joined the Indian Police Service in 1996 and went on to become the first woman officer to head the detective department of Kolkata police, said she was “extremely disturbed” by media reports about her personal life.

“I have been working with my organisation since long and all my decisions have been collective. The case has nothing to do with me as an individual,” said Sen.

Shamim, who said his name was needlessly dragged into the controversy by the media, said there was no ‘groupism’ in the police.

“Let me tell you there is no such groupism. The Kolkata police works like a family and the decisions are taken collectively,” said Shamim.

The victim, a mother of two, had complained that she was raped at gunpoint on Feb 6 inside a moving car. She lodged the complaint on Feb 9.