- Suvendu Adhikari appoints Damayanti Sen to lead women's atrocities investigation committee
- Damayanti Sen led Park Street rape probe in 2012
- Committee chaired by retired Justice Samapti Chatterjee starts operations June 1
West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari is bringing back a supercop - once sidelined by the Mamata Banerjee government in the aftermath of the 2012 Park Street rape case - to investigate violence committed against women and children.
Damayanti Sen, who was leading the Park Street rape case probe, will now act as the member secretary of the committee led by retired Justice Samapti Chatterjee. The committee will receive complaints at police stations, much like during public hearings. The committee is scheduled to commence its operations on June 1. Prior to that date, officials will engage in the collection of various relevant data.
Sen's life has come full circle after 14 years.
While returning from a nightclub on Park Street late at night on February 6, 2012, Suzette Jordan was gang raped inside a moving vehicle. Damayanti Sen led the investigation into that case. Investigators under her tracked down the accused days after the probe started.
Yet, Sen had not been entrusted with the investigation of any major cases after that and remained "sidelined".
Despite being a seasoned officer, she had not been entrusted with the investigation of any major cases since that time; indeed, during the tenure of the Mamata government, she had remained somewhat 'sidelined.' It is this very Damayanti Sen whom Suvendu Adhikari has now brought back-appointing the astute officer to the new committee constituted by the Chief Minister to investigate crimes against women in the state.
Who is Damayanti Sen?
Damayanti Sen is an IPS officer of the 1996 batch. She is the first woman to serve as the Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) of the Kolkata Police.
Subsequently, she was appointed as the Special Commissioner of the Kolkata Police. In the interim, she led the investigation into the Park Street gangrape case.
Why Damayanti Sen Was Sidelined
The Park Street gangrape incident occurred shortly after the Trinamool Congress government assumed power and sent the entire state into turmoil.
At the time, former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee characterised the incident as a "sajano ghotona (fabricated event)" to tarnish the government's image.
However, Damayanti Sen - the Joint Commissioner then in charge of the Crime Branch - conclusively established that the rape had indeed taken place.
Immediately thereafter, Banerjee transferred Damayanti Sen from the Kolkata Police headquarters at Lalbazar to a comparatively less significant post within the Barrackpore Commissionerate.
