Kamduni crusaders to contest polls

Within days of a city court sentencing three men to death for the rape of a 21-year-old college student, her closest friend, Tumpa Koyal, is gearing up to join the fray in the forthcoming Assembly elections.

Tumpa has found a comrade in Mausumi Koyal, another woman who led protests against the rape at North 24 Parganas’ Kamduni in 2013, with both likely to contest on a Left-supported ticket.

Tumpa and Mausumi, who led protests against police inaction and political sheltering of perpetrators, came to public notice when they confronted Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who called them “Maoist supporters” when she went to visit the victim’s family. Despite being village women with hardly any education, they led demonstrations.