This Article is From Aug 07, 2015

Girl Allegedly Sexually Tortured, Father Kills Self in West Bengal Village

Girl Allegedly Sexually Tortured, Father Kills Self in West Bengal Village

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Siliguri, West Bengal: A missed call has spelt disaster for a family in an interior village, several kilometres away from in Siliguri, with the father committing suicide in the wake of alleged sexual torture of his school-going girl by a group of youths.

A senior police officer today said that the man, a farmer, was found hanging on Monday, a day after he brought back home his rescued class IX daughter from local Ambari police station.

Two persons, including the main accused, were already arrested while hunt was on for the remaining duo, the officer said.

The 14-year-old girl was rescued by a Siliguri police team from a red light area in Coochbehar where she was dumped by the arrested youth, including the main accused Pintu Burman and his three friends.

The girl, who had left home for Coochbehar to meet Pintu on July 14, had called up his mobile number to crosscheck a missed call on her phone one month ago. Though she had hung up, Pintu kept calling back and managed to coax her into marrying him, the girl, now lodged in a juvenile girls' home, told the interrogators.

However, as she left home and reached Coochbehar, Pintu and two of his friends took her to Siliguri and sexually tortured her for days in confinement, the officer said narrating her accounts.

She was then taken to Coochbehar and dumped in a brothel by the three accused and a trafficker, the officer said.

Though she was finally rescued by a police team from Siliguri with help from the Coochbehar police and taken back to her home on Sunday, the girl's father was found hanging inside the house the very next morning, the officer said.

Based on the girl's complaint Pintu and his accomplices Akhil Das were arrested on Monday even as a manhunt was on for the third accused Vicky Roy and the trafficker, the officer said.

Demanding that all the accused be arrested and given exemplary punishment, the girl's aunt said, "We will go as far as possible despite being poor with the help of Legal Aid Forum, Darjeeling unit."

The forum today said they would extend all possible support to the family and take up with the police the girl trafficking racket in the North Bengal belt which was preying on unsuspecting girls of poor and lower middle class families and ruining their lives and families.
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