Post-poll violence in Bengal: Gang rape survivors move SC seeking SIT, independent agency probe

A 60-year-old woman alleged that she was raped in front of her six-year-old grandson by TMC workers

A 60-year-old woman and a 17-year-old minor girl from West Bengal have approached the Supreme Court alleging horrific gang rape by TMC workers, for their families' support to the BJP in the recently held Assembly election and sought SIT probe into all incidents of post-poll violence.

The 60-year-old woman alleged that she was raped in front of her six-year-old grandson by TMC workers on the intervening night of May 4-5, in "a glaring living example of the nature of post-poll violence unleashed throughout the state against family members of those who opposed the interest of the ruling party".

The woman said on May 3, after the declaration of poll results, a large mob of 100-200 people, which mainly comprised of TMC supporters, surrounded her and asked the family to leave the house. “After BJP emerged victorious in the Assembly constituency (Khejuri), workers of the ruling party in the state got infuriated and started burning down houses of BJP supporters, hurling bombs, even inflicting physical torture and looting jewellery and other valuables," the woman’s application read.

While history is replete with gruesome instances where rape was employed as a strategy to terrorise the enemy civilian population and to demoralise enemy troops, never have such cruel crimes been committed against a woman for her or her family's participation in the democratic process, it said.

“Not merely the said crimes were facilitated by the inaction of the state authorities/police, but what was shocking is the post-crime humiliation that the rape survivors were subjected to, for their perceived audacity in reporting the crime," it added.

The victim alleged that the police refused to register the case when her son-in-law tried to report the incident, and after her daughter-in-law persisted, an FIR was filed only against one, despite the naming of the five accused. The woman was later treated at a hospital, where medical examination confirmed rape.

A 17-year-old minor girl from the Scheduled Caste community also approached the top court seeking SIT/CBI investigation into her alleged gang rape by TMC workers on May 9, when she was returning home with her friends. The victim claimed that she was raped by four TMC workers for more than an hour as a "lesson" for her family supporting BJP.

The victim asked the top court to shift the trial out of the state, alleging the police were pressuring her family saying their other daughter may face the same consequences.

The applications were filed in a pending case by Biswajit Sarkar, the brother of deceased Bengal BJP worker Abhijit Sarkar, allegedly murdered in post-poll violence in West Bengal.

The court, which had already issued notice on Sarkar’s plea, would take up the matter on Tuesday.

In a response to the plea for a CBI probe into post-poll violence, the West Bengal government told the court that no interference was required as the High Court was already seized of the matter.

In an affidavit, the West Bengal government claimed the allegations were misleading and politically motivated. It also said the state was cooperating with National Commission for Women already probing violence. It also said the FIR was already lodged, arrests were made and compensation paid to the victims.