Amid outrage over the alleged gang rape of a medical student in Durgapur, BJP, Congress, and CPI(M) held protests across West Bengal demanding justice. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s remarks urging female students to avoid going out at night sparked further backlash over women’s safety in the state
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. File pic
Amid the growing anger over the Durgapur gang rape case in West Bengal, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress on Sunday held protests in various places across the state, news agency PTI reported. The opposition parties have demanded exemplary punishment for those accused of raping a medical student in Durgapur.
Another opposition party, the BJP and the CPI(M) questioned the law-and-order situation in West Bengal after the alleged incident came to light and claimed that the state is not safe for women.
Highlighting that nobody involved in the alleged gang rape of a medical student at Durgapur will be spared, West Bengal Chief Minister (CM) Mamata Banerjee has urged female boarders, especially those from outside the state, to follow hostel rules and not venture out late at night, PTI reported.
Banerjee's statement has received a backlash from across the country. While women's safety in West Bengal has come under scrutiny since the rape and murder of a medico in Kolkata last year, CM Banerjee's lack assurance has raised further questions towards women's safety in the state.
Meanwhile, the West Bengal Police have arrested three people, all residents of Durgapur, in connection with the rape case, PTI reported.
Criticising Banerjee, CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said that by asking female students not to venture out at night, she made it clear that West Bengal is not safe for women.
Chakraborty, a former CPI(M) Lok Sabha MP, said, "By asking women students not to venture out at night, the chief minister has made it clear that Kolkata, the safest city, or Durgapur, a safe city, was a propaganda campaign.”
He added, "She has made it apparent that the state is now not safe for women."
Meanwhile, the BJP held a protest march and staged a sit-in outside the Asansol South Police Station over the incident, PTI reported.
Former BJP MP Locket Chatterjee went to the hospital in Durgapur, where the student is undergoing treatment. However, the senior BJP leader was not allowed entry by police personnel.
The BJP also held a protest in front of the City Centre in Durgapur, which is one of the largest industrial cities in West Bengal.
The women members of the Congress party also visited the hospital, demanding that they be allowed to speak with the authorities.
Meanwhile, Left Front Chairman, Biman Bose, has demanded capital punishment for those found guilty in the case.
Pointing to the CM's advice to female hostel boarders over venturing out at night-time, BJP's West Bengal unit president Samik Bhattacharya said that this is an "admission" that there is "no law and order" in the state.
(With inputs from PTI)
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
