Malda, Nov. 12: The youth accused of attacking the father of a widow with an iron rod on Monday night in Malda was arrested this morning.


 


Rintu Sheikh was held near his house and would be produced in court tomorrow, police said.


 


The widow had alleged that Rintu had attempted to rape her in July, and on Monday night he hit her father with an iron rod on the head and on right eye. The 35-year-old woman had also said that on Friday, Rintu plastered posters on the walls of her home with obscene remarks on her.


 


On Monday night, the woman lodged a police complaint. Today, the woman alleged that she was kept in the police station for almost 12 hours from 11pm yesterday and the police put pressure on her to extract a statement that she was in a relationship with Rintu. She said the police video recorded the session.


 


'The police tried to force me to say that I had a relationship with Rintu. They kept on asking me in front of the camera if I had a relationship with him. I told them they were incorrect. If I had a relationship, the entire village would have got to know. I asked the police to take me to my village and ask the villagers the same question in my presence. I told the police that if it was found that I was lying, they can beat me up with shoes,' the woman told reporters outside the police station this morning.


 


Malda police superintendent Prasun Banerjee said: 'The claim of detaining the woman at the police station and asking her to change the complaint is not true. But because such an allegation has been levelled against the police, I am looking into it.'


 


The police had said yesterday that they had not seen any posters plastered near the lady's home. Malda police superintendent Banerjee had also said that the father of the lady saw Rintu and her in a 'compromising' position on Monday, following which Rintu attacked him.


 


The lady today said that the police did not give her any food throughout yesterday night and did not allow her to go to the Malda Medical College and Hospital where her father was admitted. Doctors at the hospital had said the injury the elderly man suffered was serious and he could lose his vision in the right eye.


 


Today around 10am, when the woman came out of the police station and started talking to reporters, officers whisked her away. Around 11am, the woman was allowed to visit her 55-year-old father at the hospital. Two lady constables accompanied her.


 


Yesterday, the woman had said she had filed an attempt to rape complaint against Rintu, 45, at a local police outpost in July. But the police allegedly took money from Rintu and did not take any action against him.


 


Officer Banerjee said yesterday that the police would probe if any cop had taken money from Rintu.


 


This morning, Rintu's wife visited him at the police outpost. 'I know the woman who has brought charges against my husband. She is a good person and has no relationship with my husband,' she said.


 


Rintu and the widowed woman are from the same village.


 


Yesterday, state food processing minister Krishnendu Chowdhury and the minister for social welfare and woman and child development Sashi Panja had said there had been no rape attempt or attack on any woman in Malda - comments that have made Opposition leaders furious.


 


Chowdhury had said: 'I have made inquiries and found that there was no attempt to rape in Malda as is being claimed. There was no complaint lodged with the police. The woman was having an affair and her father got to know about it.'


 


Panja had said: 'No attempt to rape took place in Malda. There was no attack on any woman.'


 


Reacting to the comments of the Trinamul ministers, Mausam Noor, the Malda North MP and district Congress president, said today: 'We will launch a movement against the police and the state government. I have spoken to the woman and I strongly condemn the attempt by the police to malign a woman. I have heard that a minister of the ruling party made a statement against the woman even before the investigation has started. It is not expected that a minister should behave in such an irresponsible manner.'


 


Congress MLA Manas Bhuniya said: 'It is a blatant attempt by the ruling party to conceal the truth.'


 


The BJP has demanded the transfer of the Malda police superintendent. A party team visited the woman's village and the hospital today.


 


'The statements (of the ministers) have created a wrong impression about the woman's character. Krishnendu should apologise. The ruling party is trying to hush up the case. We will launch a movement if the guilty is not punished,' said Shibendu Shekhar Roy, the BJP district president.


 


BJP MLA Samik Bhattacharya said the party was conducting an independent inquiry into the incident. 'Crimes against women are increasing in Bengal. These are not good signs. It is unfortunate that members of the ruling party are trying to hush up such atrocities. Our party is investigating the incident.'


 


Today, the deputy superintendent of Malda medical college, Jyotish Chandra Das, said the woman's father's condition was the same. 'He is not in a state to talk and he is very weak. We will decide on whether to refer him to Calcutta in a few days time,' Das said.