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regular-article-logo Thursday, 25 April 2024

Family from Baranagar moves Calcutta High Court with plea for rape probe

They said the medical report of the victim had not yet reached them and some police officers were nudging them to strike a compromise with the accused

Our Special Correspondent Calcutta Published 24.08.21, 02:16 AM
Calcutta High Court.

Calcutta High Court. File photo

A family from Baranagar has moved Calcutta High Court seeking a CID probe into the alleged rape of a teenager and claimed that Baranagar police station has been slack in investigating the complaint.

Family members said the medical report of the victim had not yet reached them and some police officers were nudging them to strike a compromise with the accused.

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According to the complaint, two youths from Baranagar — Pritam Pal and Bablu Mondal — raped the teenager after luring her to accompany them on a short trip. Later, the accused allegedly took her to Basirhat, in North 24-Parganas, where they tried to sell her.

The next day the family lodged a complaint with Baranagar police station and the two accused youths were arrested.

The family alleged that despite repeated requests, the police had not drawn up a case under the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act. Instead, they have drawn up an FIR on charges of kidnapping and wrongful confinement following kidnapping.

On Monday, the family moved the high court and filed a writ petition claiming that the police had been allegedly asking the family to strike a deal with the accused and their associates.

“If someone from their family had undergone a similar trauma, would they have struck a deal with the accused?” asked the girl’s mother. “The police have not searched the house of the accused. Even the two-wheeler that was used has not been seized.”

The family’s lawyer said the writ petition demands shifting the probe from the jurisdiction of Baranagar police station to another agency, such as the CID, for a fair investigation.

The police said the FIR was drawn up the day the family had lodged a complaint with Baranagar police station.

“In her statement to the court, the victim said she had been raped. Subsequently, the Pocso Act was added and the medical tests of the accused and the victim were conducted,” said an officer of the Barrackpore police commissionerate, to which Baranagar police station reports.

“It is still not clear where the police failed in discharging their duty. The two accused have been remanded in judicial custody and investigation is on.”

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