Police interrogating victim's boyfriend, three arrested; Mamata Banerjee's hideous remarks trigger protest
NEW DELHI: Three people were arrested in connection with the gang rape of a medical student in Durgapur, West Bengal. Locals Sheikh Riyazuddin, Sheikh Firdous and Appu have been arrested. Police said that the search for the other two is ongoing. The girl's boyfriend and the medical college staff are also being questioned.
Meanwhile, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's remarks on the incident courted controversy. Mamata blamed the victim for going out at night and said it was inappropriate for a girl to do so. The Chief Minister questioned the victim getting out of the campus at 12:30 am. She also asked private medical colleges to be careful about their students, especially girls. Mamata alleged that Bengal was being unfairly targeted over such cases and thus questioned the actions taken by the Odisha government over a rape incident that took place in the state recently.
With this, political parties, including the BJP and students, came out in strong protest. The BJP beseeched the women of the state to give a befitting reply in the next elections to the Chief Minister, who found fault with the gang rape victim despite her having to go through the cruel ordeal.
A second-year MBBS student from Odisha was sexually assaulted on the premises of a private medical college on Friday night. The student, who was going to have food with her boyfriend, was attacked by a group. The boyfriend fled during the attack. It was just one year before a medical student was raped and killed at Kolkata's R.G. Kar Medical College. The incident saw nationwide protests, even putting pressure on the Mamata Banerjee-led government.
The police stopped BJP leaders who came to visit the survivor in the hospital. BJP leaders, including Locket Chatterjee, were stopped. The leaders got into an argument with the police and protested. Locket Chatterjee alleged that the government led by Mamata was behaving akin to Taliban and Pakistan.