Burdwan, May 16: A man charged with raping a widow and his friends sprinkled red abir on her, showered obscenities and performed a macabre dance till she fell unconscious, unable to bear the scene.

When she returned to her senses, Pushpa Das had lost her speech.

Her tongue sealed, she lay at Burdwan Medical College and Hospital for 12 days till her death this morning.

“She was suffering from trauma and did not respond to any treatment,” said deputy superintendent of the hospital Monju Murshed.

Her son settled in Delhi and daughter married for two years, Pushpa used to stay alone at Boral village in Raina, about 150 km from Calcutta.

On March 23, Tara Das, who lived close by, sneaked into the house shortly after midnight, gagged Pushpa and allegedly raped her. She lay unconscious through that night.

The day after, she gathered enough courage to go to police. Das was arrested. He was first remanded in police custody for seven days and then sent to judicial custody for 30 days.

“We arrested Tara on the basis of Pushpa’s complaint. As part of our investigation, we asked her to undergo a medical test but, for some reason, she did not agree,” said Burdwan superintendent of police K.C. Meena.

“We filed a chargesheet against Das on the basis of other evidence but he was granted bail by the magistrate on May 1.”

Meena did not spell out the probable reason why Pushpa did not agree to undergo the test but his subordinates did. The widow thought her married daughter’s life and her son’s social standing would be hurt if word about the rape leaked out, they said. “She locked herself in her house.”

Das did not waste time. A day after obtaining bail, he stormed Pushpa’s house with friends to celebrate the “release”.

They pulled the woman out onto a courtyard and surrounded her. Crackers were burst and a couple of them sprinkled the abir. No fellow villager came to Pushpa’s rescue.

“Tara was shouting ‘dekh amar ki korte parli, ami abaar phire eshechhi (look, what you could do to me, I am back)’,” said one of her neighbours.

“We rushed after Tara and his mates had left. Pushpa was on the floor and groaning. We took her to the hospital.”

The doctors also found wounds on her that she apparently kept secret fearing social stigma. “When we examined her, the wounds were infected,” said Murshed.

“The infection could be one of the reasons behind her death. The body has been sent for post-mortem,” he added.

Das is absconding since May 2. “It is barbaric. I will move the human rights commission and tell them how they traumatised my mother,” said Jhantu, who rushed to her village hearing that her mother had been hospitalised.