Police, not local residents, should have conducted the search for the missing Baruipur girl, said rights activist Rimjhim Sinha, who had given the clarion call for Reclaim the Night following the RG Kar Hospital rape and murder in 2024.
“Locals had to form a search party. They found the body. It was a ghastly crime. But the police did not conduct a search. If they had, the lynching could have been avoided. The law-and-order situation would not have gone out of hand. This sets a dangerous precedent. It erodes people’s trust in the system,” Sinha told Metro.
On Monday, she visited Baruipur police station with five members of Raat Dokhol Din Bodol, the platform she founded.
Sinha said they were made to wait for around two hours before submitting a deputation to the inspector-in-charge of Baruipur police station. “We raised several questions but did not get any satisfactory response,” she said.
Her call in 2024 had brought tens of thousands of women onto the streets during the protests on the night of August 14-15.
In Baruipur, residents have alleged that a local BJP leader helped the prime accused flee from custody.
Sinha criticised the police over the allegation. “This raises serious questions. In such a sensitive case, how can the police release a person on the insistence of a politician? The suspect should have been in custody,” she said.
The South 24-Parganas unit of the All India Democratic Women’s Association also submitted a memorandum to Baruipur police station.