[Reader-list] Pls. sign the Online Petition: Justice for a poor woman raped by a police officer in West Bengal
asit das
asit1917 at gmail.com
Sat May 19 12:16:42 IST 2012
Dear friends,
I have just signed the Online Petition addressed to the Honourable
President of India (Copy to National Commission for Women and National
Human Rights Commission) demanding a fair inquiry by an independent and
credible agency to impart justice for a poor woman raped by Officer-in
Charge, Bhadreswar Police Station of Hooghly district, West Bengal at the
police quarter.
Please go through the petition, sign on if you agree and also forward to
your peers as widely as possible.
*
Please click the following link and sign:*
https://www.change.org/petitions/to-the-honourable-president-of-india-justice-for-a-poor-woman-raped-by-a-police-officer-in-west-bengal
**
If you experience any technical problem while attempting to electronically
sign the aforesaid online petition, PLEASE SEND YOUR ENDORSEMENT TO MY
EMAIL ADDRESS:*
*rajeshdattain at yahoo.com<http://us.mc1624.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=rajeshdattain@yahoo.com>
WITH YOUR CONSENT PLEASE SEND
1) Your full name -
2) Address -
3) City or Village-
4) Pin code-
5) Country-
*
ABOUT THE PETITION*
Initiate a fair inquiry to impart justice for a poor woman raped by a
police officer in West Bengal
We are deeply concerned about a heinous incident of rape of a poor woman by
a police officer in his official quarter followed by extraction of a
retraction from the victim. We have been informed by Association for
Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) that on 23rd April, 2012 afternoon,
a poor woman (26 year old) was raped by Sub Inspector Mithun Banerjee,
Officer-in Charge, Bhadreswar Police Station of Hooghly district, West
Bengal at the police quarter.
Earlier, the victim woman’s husband was arrested being charged in a dacoity
case and after 45 days in custody, he was released on 21st April, 2012. On
the very night, two policemen from Bhadreswar PS chanced on him and asked
him to come to the police station. Accordingly the husband visited
Bhadreswar PS on 22nd April. As asked by SI Mithun Banerjee O.C.,
Bhadreswar PS, the husband summoned his wife to the police station over
phone. At that time the O.C. took the mobile nos. of the victim and her
husband.
The very next day (23rd April, 2012) afternoon, at around 3-30 pm, the
O.C. Mithun
Banerjee asked the victim to visit the police station immediately in
connection with her husband's case. She proceeded to the Bhadreswar P.S. by
an Auto-rickshaw. (According to media reports a police vehicle was sent to
the victim's house to fetch her to the police station.)
When the victim reached the police station, the O.C. took her to his
quarter. There was nobody in the quarter at that time. The O.C. took the
victim to a room of the quarter and closed the door and windows. He
threatened her if she did not obey silently, her husband would be in grave
danger. After that he pounced on her. According to the victim’s complaint,
she tried to resist but could not shout out of fear that she might be
killed and she was raped by the O.C.
Later on, receiving a telephonic complaint from the victim’s husband, the
Hooghly district committee of APDR assisted her to come forward for a
medical examination at the nearest government hospital. But initially both
the hospital authority and police administration were reluctant to
entertain and act on the complaint of rape. Finally as the APDR members
intervened, the victim could lodge a formal complaint at Chandernagore PS
and the medical examination was carried out at Chandernagore Sub Divisional
Hospital.
But deplorably after lodging the complaint the victim received the most
inhuman treatment and was harshly treated by the state police like an
accused of a serious crime. The police subjected her to terrible mental and
physical stress almost for 48 hours at a stretch to coerce her into
retracting the complaint.
Eventually, the police succeeded in extracting a statement of retraction
from the victim u/s 164 CrPC after prolonged grilling and traumatisation
coupled with aggravation of her thyroid disorder in absence of essential
medication. She was not allowed to take assistance from any lawyer or
friend -- even her husband was not allowed during grilling. All women’s
justice organisations throughout the world advice rape victims not to talk
alone with anybody even with the detectives. Besides, like other such
incidents of gross human rights violation, the police also instigated a
slander campaign against the victim and fed the media with misinformation
at regular intervals like 'no evidence of rape in medical examination',
'the woman has two marriages and is of bad character', 'the woman admits
she is mentally disbalanced' so on and so forth.
We strongly feel and allege that the statement of retraction was not
voluntary and extracted under duress and intimidation.
On the other hand, the accused Officer-in Charge of Bhadreswar PS was also
not dealt with according to law. We have received information from APDR
that surprisingly about half a dozen officer-in charges of different police
stations assembled and decided on a strategy to rescue their colleague.
In the meantime, a team of APDR has conducted a fact finding against the
tremendous odds and submitted the report to the statutory Human Rights
Bodies including State Women's Commission, Human Rights Commission, the
police administration and judiciary authorities concerned.
On 30th April 2012, a six member team of APDR visited the office of the
Superintendent of Police, Hooghly; to submit a memorandum with a single
demand that justice must be imparted to the poor victim. Although the SP
himself fixed an appointment on that day at 11 am, the APDR members were
told that he was unwell and could not attend office. ASP Mr. Ashesh Biswas,
IPS received the APDR team and listened to their views and appeal for over
an hour. He did not commit anything except that he would report the whole
discussion to the SP. However, he did not categorically deny that the rape
was committed. But regrettably no action has been taken hitherto.
*WE DEMAND:*
1. The allegation should be investigated by an independent agency which
is not under the influence of the state police, as the accused is a police
officer; we have strong apprehension that investigation would be wrongly
influenced to save the accused from punishment. The State Women's
Commission may initiate such a fair inquiry process. The statement u/s 164
CrPC obtained under duress from a traumatised victim must be kept in
abeyance.
2. The allegation is of a non-bailable offence and the accused must be
dealt with as per provisions of the law.
3. The victim woman along with her family and other witnesses must be
provided adequate safety and security during the process of inquiry and
trial.
*WE APPEAL TO* The Honourable President of India, National Commission for
Women and National Human Rights Commissions to step in to help the victim
woman get justice immediately.
*WE ALSO APPEAL TO* various rights organisations, women's organisations and
all democratic individuals and organisations to condemn and raise their
voices of protest in the strongest possible terms against this sinister
design subverting the law to deprive a rape victim of justice.
Please join us demanding a fair and thorough investigation of the case by
an impartial agency resulting into apposite legal actions against the
perpetrator without any impunity and justice to the victim.
Please go through the online petition and sign, and circulate it among your
friends and colleagues as widely as possible.
*Please check the following link for your ready reference:- *
http://www.scribd.com/Manabatabadi1993/d/93990875-RAPE-OF-A-POOR-WOMAN-BY-O-C-BHADRESWAR-PS-WEST-BENGAL
*Contents**:*
1. Photocopy of the complaint of the rape victim received by the O/C
Chandernagore PS on 23.04.2012 (Page-2)
2. Photocopy of the official request made by APDR for Medical
Examination of the Rape Victim received by the Emergency Medical Officer
Chandernagore Hospital on 23.04.2012 at 9 PM (Page-3)
3. Photocopy of the injury report prepared by the Emergency Medical
Officer Chandernagore Hospital on 23.04.2012 at 9.30 PM. (Page-4)
4. Photocopy of the receipt of APDR memorandum by the office of the SP.
Hooghly. (Page-5)
5. APDR FACT FINDING REPORT* *(Page-6-9)
Kolkata Cop rapes a poor woman threatening dire consequences against
her husband : (*Courtesy: KRACKTIVIST website*)
http://kractivist.wordpress.com/2012/05/06/kolkata-cop-rapes-a-poor-woman-threatening-dire-consequences-against-her-husband/
*PETITION LETTER*:
To
The Honourable President of India,
Rashtrapati Bhavan,
New Delhi – 110 004, INDIA
Fax: 91-11-23017290 / 91-11-23017824
Email: *presidentofindia at rb.nic.in<http://us.mc1624.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=presidentofindia@rb.nic.in>
*
Copy to:
1) To The Chairperson,
National Commission for Women
4, Deen Dayal Upadhayaya Marg,
New Delhi-110 002, INDIA
Fax: 91-11-23236154 / 91-11- 23236270
Email: chairperson-ncw at nic.in<http://us.mc1624.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=chairperson-ncw@nic.in>,
ncw at nic.in <http://us.mc1624.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=ncw@nic.in>
complaintcell-ncw at nic.in<http://us.mc1624.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=complaintcell-ncw@nic.in>
2) To The Chairperson,
National Human Rights Commission
Faridkot House, Copernicus Marg,
New Delhi- 110 001, INDIA
Fax: + 91 11 2338 4863
E-mail: chairnhrc at nic.in<http://us.mc1624.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=chairnhrc@nic.in>,
covdnhrc at nic.in<http://us.mc1624.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=covdnhrc@nic.in>
,**
Respected Madam,
We, the concerned citizens of India with a profound feeling of agony, would
like to draw your kind attention to a shocking and appalling incident of
rape of a poor woman by a police officer in West Bengal followed by
extraction of a retraction from the victim reported by he Hooghly District
Committee of Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR). It has
been alleged that the victim with her family was severely harassed,
grilled, terrorized and maltreated by the state police to compel her to
withdraw the complaint of rape.
We are attaching a brief account of the incident for your ready reference.
The identity of the victim is withheld in consideration of her right to
social dignity and to prevent any potential social stigmatization.
*Case Narrative:*
On 23rd April, 2012, at around 4-00 -- 4-30 pm, a poor woman (26 year old)
was raped by Sub Inspector Mithun Banerjee, Officer-in Charge, Bhadreswar
Police Station of Hooghly district, West Bengal at the police quarter.
Earlier, the victim woman’s husband was arrested being charged in a dacoity
case and after 45 days in custody, he was released on 21st April, 2012. On
the very night, two policemen from Bhadreswar PS chanced on him and asked
him to come to the police station. Accordingly the husband visited
Bhadreswar PS on 22nd April, 2012. As asked by SI Mithun Banerjee O.C.,
Bhadreswar PS, the husband summoned his wife to the police station over
phone. At that time the O.C. took the mobile nos. of the victim and her
husband.
The next day (23rd April, 2012) afternoon, at about 3-30 pm, the O.C.
Mithun Banerjee asked the victim to visit the police station immediately in
connection with her husband's case. She proceeded to the Bhadreswar P.S. by
an Auto-rickshaw. (According to media reports a police vehicle was sent to
the victim's house to fetch her to the police station.)
When the victim reached the police station, the O.C. took her to his
quarter. There was nobody in the quarter at that time. The O.C. took the
victim to a room of the quarter and closed the door and windows. He
threatened her if she did not obey silently, her husband would be in grave
danger. After that he pounced on her. According to the victim’s complaint,
she tried to resist but could not shout out of fear that she might be
killed and she was raped by the O.C.
Afterward, the victim reported the whole incident to her husband and he
tried to make contact with some news media over telephone. Later in the
evening, he contacted the Hooghly District Committee of APDR. At around
8-30 pm, human rights activists of APDR came to know about this odious rape
incident. They were informed that the young couple was seeking justice, but
were too afraid to move alone and lodge a complaint against the offender
O.C. APDR members advised them to go to the nearest government hospital and
get medically examined first. They were even reluctant fearing that the
hospital authorities would refuse. Finally, after being assured by APDR
members that they would intervene if the hospital authorities turn down,
the victim woman and her husband agreed to go to the nearest government
hospital, the Chandernagore Sub-Divisional Hospital.
The couple reached the hospital by 8-45 pm, and requested for medical check
up against their complaint of rape. As they feared, the Emergency Medical
Officer on duty refused to attend them and get the woman medically
examined. In about 15 minutes an APDR team also reached the hospital and
tried to reason with the Medical Officer for immediate arrangement of
medical check up. Lastly after submission of an official request on behalf
of APDR, an outdoor ticket was prepared and after getting instruction from
the Superintendent of the Hospital, necessary papers were being readied for
her admission.
While all these were taking place, a well-built person was frequently
coming in and going out of the emergency room and making calls with his
cell phone. The hospital staff revealed that he was a police person in
civil dress.
Meanwhile, APDR also contacted the Chairperson, West Bengal Women's
Commission (WBWC) and also met the Superintendent of the Hospital in his
quarter. The Chairperson, WBWC also called the Superintendent of Police,
Hooghly. While the APDR team was discussing the matter with the
Superintendent of the Hospital, he received a phone call and informed the
APDR team that a police team would come to the hospital and if they make a
formal requisition, necessary medical examination to ascertain the truth of
allegation of rape would be conducted.
Within a few minutes, a huge contingent of police appeared, first led by
Tathagata Basu, SDPO, Chandernagore, followed by IPS Mr. Amitabha Verma,
ASP. They interrogated the victim woman and her husband for about an hour
and in another hour the woman's handwritten complaint was received by the
Officer-in Charge, Chandernagore PS, in which the victim categorically
stated that she was raped by the Officer-in Charge, Bhadreswar PS in a room
of the OC's quarter.
*Medical Examination and Aftermath:*
After receiving the formal complaint from the victim, the Officer-in
Charge, Chandernagore P.S. made a formal requisition for medical
examination on her for alleged rape. The examination was carried out at
Chandernagore Sub Divisional Hospital at late night. Surprisingly, the
Emergency Medical Officer noted the allegation of rape “*as per statements
of the victim's husband*”, although the victim herself narrated her plight
and emphatically stated in presence of the APDR team that she had been
raped by the O.C. of Bhadreswar P.S. The discrepancy was pointed to the
Emergency Medical Officer immediately thereafter. He admitted his mistake
and the matter was also communicated to the superintendent of the hospital
at 11.30 pm.
On 24th April, 2012, morning the victim was discharged from the
Chandernagore Hospital. Her husband along with their 5-6 year old son was
waiting for whole night at the hospital, hungry and unfed. When the family
was emerging from the hospital, they were forcibly placed in a police
vehicle and taken to Imambarah Sadar Hospital at Chinsurah. Mr. Tanmoy Roy
Chowdhury. IPS, SP Hooghly, Basab Talukdar, Special IG and other officials
were present at the Imambarah Sadar Hospital. There was another round of
grilling of the victim and her husband at the hospital. The victim was also
subjected to a fresh medical examination. Though the victim made a formal
complaint of rape against the O.C., Bhadreswar, P.S., no action was taken
against the accused O.C. till then. Only towards the afternoon the news
media reported that the O.C. is 'closed' and a later report said he was
suspended.
After medical examination, the whole family was again put on a police
vehicle at about 2 pm and was taken to the District Women P.S. situated at
the Chinsurah PS premises. At 3 pm, they were again taken to the Imambarah
Sadar Hospital and after about half an hour taken back to the District
Women PS.
At 5 pm, APDR members learnt that the whole family was then at Bhadreswar
PS and at about 9 pm, after the whole day's ordeal without sleep or rest
accompanied by continuous grilling by a top brass of the police hierarchy,
they probably left the police station. But they could not be found at their
home and remained incommunicado for the next 36 hours.
On 25th April, 2012 they were again grilled by a big team of the CID and
even his husband was not allowed to communicate with her for more than 8
hours. The accused O.C. was also asked to report to the CID Headquarters at
Bhawani Bhawan, Kolkata.
Towards the afternoon of 25th April, the media citing police sources
reported that the victim 'retracted' her allegation against the O.C.
On 30th April 2012, a six member team of APDR visited the office of the SP,
Hooghly with a prior appointment to submit a memorandum with a single
demand that justice must be imparted to the poor victim. Although the SP
himself fixed the appointment on that day at 11 am, the APDR members were
told that he was unwell and could not attend office. ASP Mr. Ashesh Biswas,
IPS received the APDR team and listened to their views and appeal for over
an hour. He did not commit anything except that he would report the whole
discussion to the SP. However, he did not categorically deny that the rape
was committed. But regrettably no action has been taken hitherto. No reply
to the APDR representation was received from the SP till 18 May 2012
*The Fact Finding Report by APDR has disclosed the following facts and
loopholes of the police action:*
The initial reluctance of both the hospital and police administration to
entertain and act on the complaint of rape and subsequent warlike
activities -- both were aimed at suppressing the allegation and fact of the
rape and deprive the woman of justice.
1) The couple was in their twenties and the husband returned home
after 45 days in custody barely 40 hours prior to the incident of rape. In
this situation, vaginal rupture during rape is quite unlikely. The only
substantive medical evidence will be cross matching of the vaginal swab of
the victim with the accused's semen. But it is not known, whether such
medical examination was conducted or not. So far as we know the victim's
clothing at the time of rape were not seized and not examined forensically
for evidences of rape which is a must in such cases.
2) Like other such incidents of gross human rights violation, the
police instigated a slander campaign against the victim and fed the media
with misinformation at regular intervals like '*no evidence of rape in
medical examination*', '*the woman has two marriages and is of bad character
*', '*the woman admits she is mentally disbalanced*' so on and so forth.
3) It is also not known whether the following bits of vital
investigation were conducted by the police :
(a) Why the accused Bhadreswar PS O.C. was using an unregistered
SIM for communicating with the woman, if such contacts were necessary as
part of his official duty.
(b) The examination of Bhadreswar PS personnel to verify the
victim's presence in the PS at the time of alleged crime.
(c) Cross checking the description of the room of alleged crime at
OC's quarter as given by the victim and as it actually is.
(d) Cross matching of vaginal swab of the victim with the accused's
semen and forensic examination of victim's clothes at the time of alleged
rape as mentioned before are absolutely necessary to rule out the
allegation of rape.
4) The police tried to break the morale of the victim and subjected
her to tremendous mental and physical stress from 4 pm, 23rd April to
25thApril afternoon-- almost for 48 hours at a stretch. The resulting
trauma
made her ill. She felt acute pain in the head and felt mentally agonized to
such an extent that she could not remember what she said earlier to the
police. The victim is a patient of Thyroid disorder. Two days without
necessary essential medication invariably disturbs the physical and mental
equilibrium of the patient. This was the opportunity the police was looking
for and without wasting a moment she was taken to a magistrate to record a
statement extracted in the face of severe trauma.
5) Media reports suggest that the victim made a statement u/s 164 of
CrPC retracting the allegation of rape, which was also repeated by the
Honourable Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, during her press meet on
27thApril, 2012.
The sub section 6 of section 164 of CrPC states that the Magistrate
recording a confession or statement under this section shall forward it to
the Magistrate by whom the case is to be inquired into or tried. In this
context, the following questions need to be answered.
(a) How did the police/media know the contents of her section 164
statement, when the law specifically meant it for the judicial magistrate?
(b) Was the victim provided with legal advice/opinion on the
consequences before she was forced to make a statement u/s 164 CrPC?
(c) Even if the victim retracted her complaint, could the accused
be absolved before getting the forensic test reports and until then should
the accused not to be dealt with as per law?
(d) Why was the victim taken to a magistrate to record a statement
before the completion of the investigation based on her already registered
complaint? Can this be explained without questioning the motive-- was
police anxious to give justice to the victim or they were hell-bent in
rescuing their colleague from the long hand of law?
6) The whole chain of events does not suggest that the victim's
allegation was untrue. It rather points out how far and further the police
can traumatise a victim of rape to get her retract her allegation. The
treatment meted out to the victim is in blatant disregard of all human
right standards. The traumatisation was aimed towards the whole family
including the victim's five-six year old child, to subjugate the victim.
We hope you will agree that when a police officer uses his official
position, official establishment, official vehicles and his subordinate
staffs to force an accused’s wife to submit his carnal hunger, and the
police establishment unites up to protect him covering up his dreadful
offence and suppressing the victim, the trust of the citizens on the police
‘as a law enforcing agency’ naturally reach to its nadir.
In this context, *WE DEMAND:*
* *
1) The allegation should be investigated by an independent agency
which is not under the influence of the state police, as the accused is a
police officer; we have strong apprehension that investigation would be
wrongly influenced to save the accused from punishment. The State Women's
Commission may initiate such a fair inquiry process. The statement u/s 164
CrPC obtained under duress from a traumatised victim must be kept in
abeyance.
2) The allegation is of a non-bailable offence and the accused must be
dealt with as per provisions of the law.
3) The victim woman and her family must be provided adequate safety
and security during the process of inquiry and trial.
We strongly believe such an impartial and thorough investigation of the
incident carried out by a neutral investigating agency with the utmost
respect and empathy to the victim woman and her family can only confer
justice to her.
Therefore, we urge your prompt intervention in this case to conduct a
credible investigation followed by prosecution of the alleged perpetrator
without any impunity. We would feel highly obliged if you kindly look into
the matter and take immediate necessary measures to help the victim to get
justice.
Thanking you,
Yours sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]
Please turn your signature into hundreds more by asking your friends and
colleagues to endorse. Then they will share and request their friends.
That's how we shall achieve more signatures. So, winning this online
signature campaign is now in your hands. We need to reach out to as many
friends as we can to grow this campaign and win.
Thanks,
With warm regards,
*Rajesh Datta*
*Sorry for cross posting, if any*
------------------------------
Rajesh Datta
Tarapada Das Lane,
Kalupukur
P.O. Chandannagar
Dist.- Hooghly
West Bengal
Pin: 712136
Phone: 033-2683 4357
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