- Father of gang-rape survivor MBBS student wants to take her back to Odisha for safety
- Three men arrested and one detained in connection with the Durgapur gangrape case
- Odisha Chief Minister Manjhi urged Mamata Banerjee to take strict legal action against accused
The father of the MBBS student from Odisha, who was gangraped in West Bengal's Durgapur, has said he will be taking his daughter back to Odisha and that he is concerned about her safety in Bengal.
"My daughter is in pain. She can't walk right now. She is bedridden. I am concerned about her safety here. They could kill her here any moment. That's why we want to take her back to Odisha. Trust has been lost. We don't want her to stay in Bengal. She will pursue her education in Odisha," the heartbroken father told news agency ANI today.
The 23-year-old from Jaleswar in Odisha is a second-year MBBS student at a private medical college in Durgapur. On Friday night, she was out with a friend when some men approached them. They forcibly took the woman to a secluded area and raped her.
The woman's father said Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Manjhi has reached out to him. "The Odisha Chief Minister has spoken to me. The administration is helping us," he said, adding that he has requested that his daughter be given admission in an Odisha medical college.
Three people have been arrested, and one is detained in connection with the crime. The three arrested have been identified as Apu Bauri (21), Firdos Sekh (23), and Sekh Reajuddin (31). The male friend accompanying the survivor is also under the scanner, police sources have said.
West Bengal police have said it is "deeply saddened" by the incident and assured that the culprits won't go unpunished. "The pain of the victim is as much ours as it is Odisha's, and we shall leave no stone unturned to bring the perpetrators to justice," it said on X.
Odisha Chief Minister Manjhi called the incident "highly condemnable and painful". "I strongly urge the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, to take exemplary action against the accused as per the law. I have instructed senior officials to contact the West Bengal government and take necessary steps. The Odisha government will provide all possible assistance to the victim's family," he said.
The incident in Durgapur comes a year after the brutal rape and murder of a doctor in Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, and months after a student was raped at a law college in Kolkata.
The opposition BJP has ripped into the Trinamool Congress government over the Durgapur incident. BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul led a road blockade in Durgapur to protest against the incident. Targeting the Chief Minister, she said, "We are waiting for Mamata Banerjee to comment on the integrity of that woman. The Chief Minister does not stand with the gangrape victim. She stands with the accused. Crores are spent on Durga Puja, where Trinamool leaders offer prayers, but women are given no respect. We are protesting today to tell the people of Bengal that if you don't protest today, women in your family will be the next," she told the media.
Bengal minister and Trinamool leader, earlier a BJP MP from Asansol, called the incident "deeply shameful and tragic". "Criminals who commit such acts should be tried in fast-track courts and receive the harshest possible punishment. We have been discussing this, and our Chief Minister has launched a campaign in support of this."
Chief Minister Banerjee has termed it a "shocking" incident and said the private college administration must have ensured the student's security. Hitting out at the Odisha government, she questioned what the BJP government there has done after sexual assault cases on the state's beaches. "She was studying in a private medical college. Whose responsibility is this? How did she come out at 12.30 at night? The private medical college should take care of its students. It is a forest area."
