Mamata finds Burdwan gang-rape case fabricated

Banerjee alleged a plot even before the report was filed

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee seems to have made a habit out of making foot-in-the-mouth statements.

Just about two weeks after making unsavoury remarks about a Kolkata gang-rape victim, Banerjee on Tuesday termed as fabricated reports that another woman was gang-raped in Katwa, Burdwan district, a few days ago and described it as a conspiracy by a particular political party (read the CPM) to malign her government.

Making it clear in no uncertain terms that the gang-rape of the woman on a moving train was fabricated, Banerjee asked West Bengal Director-General of Police Naparajit Mukherjee at a press conference: “Has the medical examination of the woman been done?” When Mukherjee replied in the affirmative, Banerjee further asked: “Has anything been found?”

When the DGP said “No”, Banerjee said: “A complaint of rape has been filed. Nothing has been found. Where is the evidence? I do not think any incident of rape has taken place.”

The chief minister’s comments will further incense the people of the state, especially because the report of the physical examination of the woman is yet to be prepared and submitted to the police. When contacted over phone, the doctor concerned at the Katwa sub-divisional hospital said: “We have sent it for forensic tests and after the report comes in only then can we say whether the woman was raped or not.”

Three days ago, the woman complained that she was gang-raped when she tried to resist a robbery on the train near Pachundi in Katwa sub-division of Burdwan district.
But even before the submission of the medical examination report, Banerjee chose to say: “This is a deliberate plan of a particular political party to malign the government. The complainant had admitted her husband was a CPM supporter,” Banerjee said.

But Leader of the Opposition Surya Kanta Mishra sought to correct Banerjee, claiming that the gang-rape victim is a widow and adding that “I know something about forensic science. She should know before telling anything.”

Slightly over two weeks ago, Banerjee landed herself in a controversy when she described the gang-rape of a 37-year-old woman in Kolkata’s upmarket Park Street as a “shaajaano golpo” (fabricated story) cooked up by the media to defame and malign her government and the police.

She had egg on her face after subsequent police investigations found that the woman had indeed been gang-raped by four men she had met in a nightclub the night she was sexually assaulted in a car.