West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Thursday ordered the removal of Birbhum district Superintendent of Police C. Sudhakar, after police did not seek custody of the 13 accused of gang-raping a tribal woman in the district.
On a visit to north Bengal, a visibly anguished Banerjee ordered Sudhakar’s removal, after learning about the development.
Inspector General of Police (Western Zone) Siddh Nath Gupta will hold charge in Sudhakar’s place.
“I have ordered Sudhakar be replaced,” Banerjee said in Kurseong.
Following Sudhakar’s removal, police said they will now approach the court as soon as possible to seek custody of the 13 accused who were sent to 14 days judicial custody by a court.
“We will approach the court as soon as possible seeking the custody of the accused,” Gupta said.
The 13 accused who were presented before a local court earlier in the day were remanded in judicial custody after police did not seek custody nor did any public prosecutor appear.
“Neither any public prosecutor appeared nor police sought custody of the accused. So the court of sub-divisional judicial magistrate, Bolpur, Pijush Ghosh sent them to 14 days jail custody,” victim’s counsel Dilip Ghosh said.
While the opposition parties accused the ruling Trinamool Congress of harbouring and patronising criminals, the legal fraternity expressed dismay over police’s refusal to take the accused in custody considering the gravity of the offence.
The rape allegedly took place Monday night in Subalpur village in Birbhum district, some 180 km from Kolkata. The 20-year-old woman was allegedly raped by more than a dozen men following the orders of a kangaroo court which found her “guilty of having an affair with a man outside her community”.