Siliguri, June 16: The addiction of watching movies and serials on a neighbour?s television proved disastrous for seven-year-old Komal (name changed) of Kaulegaon village, Thurbo Tea Estate, Mirik.
She is too young to understand the horror of the incident, but raped and threatened for life by a neighbourhood youth, the child has turned into a mortally-scared, shivering little lump as she turned up for a medical test at North Bengal Medical College and Hospital today.
?Like everyday, she went to watch TV at our neighbour?s place on Monday evening,? her mother told The Telegraph. ?After returning, she went straight to bed, without talking much. It was only after I discovered blood stains on the bed the next morning that she told me about the incident.?
A resident of the same village, 25-year-old Jiten Tamang, the accused, was familiar to Komal and her family. ?While she was returning home after watching TV, the man caught her, dragged her to a solitary place, gagged and raped her. He even threatened to kill her if she told anyone of the incident,? her mother said.
?After such a ghastly incident, I doubt whether my daughter will grow up like a normal child. The culprit must be awarded exemplary punishment so that no other child meets the fate of my daughter,? she said.
Komal?s father, who is a daily-wage earner, lodged the complaint with the Mirik police. ?As soon as I received the complaint, from the victim?s family, we raided Tamang?s house and arrested him under section 376(2f) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC),? Bhanu Rai, the officer-in-charge of Mirik police station, said. ?He was produced before the Kurseong sub-divisional judicial magistrate today and remanded in judicial custody,? he added.
In another incident, which shows the growing cases of sexual violence against children, the New Jalpaiguri outpost police arrested 18-year-old Lav Ghosh from Noukaghat today for sodomising an 11-year-old boy of the same neighbourhood some months ago.
?Ghosh, who has just turned 18, was wanted in the case for the past few months,? Jalpaiguri police sources said.
?According to the complaint received from the victim, about five months ago, the accused took the boy to a field and committed sodomy on him. We were unable to arrest Ghosh immediately because he was absconding soon after the complaint was filed. We were tipped off today by the villagers that he had come back and we arrested him,? they added.
Ghosh has been booked under Section 377 of the IPC (intercourse against the order of nature with man or animal).
?A medical examination was conducted on him today and he will be produced before Jalpaiguri court tomorrow,? the police said.
