Kamduni villagers march to protest the rape and murder

The family of the Kamduni rape and murder victim has accepted the state government’s job offers and Rs 1 lakh in compensation.

Four members of the family went to Writers’ Buildings on Saturday and met chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who handed the cheque to the victim’s father and offered jobs to her two brothers.

The victim’s younger brother has been offered a peon’s job at a primary school. The brother later said the chief minister had told him that the school would be in the Rajarhat area.

The elder brother has been promised a job within a month.

The victim, a college student, was raped and murdered while she was returning home to Kamduni on June 7.

Earlier, the family had refused any help from the government and participated in a movement by Kamduni residents demanding capital punishment for the eight accused.

A section of intellectuals in the city had also organised a march in support of the villagers’ demand.

“I am a poor contract labourer, working as a mason’s assistant. I am ailing and can’t go to work regularly. We had no option but to accept the government’s compensation and jobs as our family of four is surviving on one meal a day,” said the victim’s father, in his 50s. “Accepting the government’s help doesn’t mean we don’t want the culprits to be punished. I want to see my daughter’s killers getting capital punishment.”

The two brothers could not be contacted as they were not at home and their cell phones were switched off.

According to sources in the home department, the government started reaching out to the victim’s family immediately after the rape and murder.

A day after the girl was found murdered, food minister Jyotipriya Mallick tried to enter Kamduni but had to return in the face of a blockade by villagers. He offered compensation and government jobs, which the victim’s family turned down.

Mallick has been in touch with the victim’s two brothers since July. “The two brothers turned up at the Trinamul’s party office in Madhyamgram and they were offered government jobs. The brothers told Mallick that they would consider the offer. On that day, we realised that the victim’s family was going to accept the state government’s offer,” said a Trinamul leader of North 24-Parganas.