Crime

Gang rape, or a voluntary 'cosmetic propaganda' to cover up their own 'wrongdoings' by the second year medical students - seems to be an issue that perturbed Durgapur health hub at the end of the day, today.

 

The day the 'green' city was set to relish the charm of season's first winter wind, however, had to wake up ghastly in a hest wrapped in 'saffron and red' seeing the Opposution parties rallying to the IQ City Medical College campus to heat their bread in dizzying stench fuming out of nearly a 'hoax' that led to multilayer ambiguity after the CCTV grabs exposed a 'gang raped' girl, on return from the nearby jungle walked calm with his boyfriend towards her hostel. 

 

The political parties stormed into the private owned medical college here after a second year girl student screamed, claiming that she was gang raped allegedly by some local youths inside a forest patch close to the college gate last night. 

 

A National Women's Commission team led by Archana Majumdar accordingly rushed to Durgapur to take stock of the situation and the state's health headquarters already had sought a detailed report from the college on the alleged incident. 

 

The girl, according to her father: "Was admitted in a critical condition, and the attending doctors told me that her condition was serious and she's kept under medical supervision in the intensive care unit."

 

The medical college authorities, however, have claimed in an official report that the girl was found walking towards her hostel room at around 9:31 pm yesterday. The director, IQ City Medical College, Sudarshana Gangulee, in her statement, mentioned: "At 7:58 pm, both the students left the campus for dinner. One of them returned at 8:42 p.m., but after loitering around the main exit area for around 5 - 6 minutes, she stepped out again at 8:48 pm." Gangulee's report added: "The two then returned together at 9:29 pm. The female student proceeded toward the Girls' hostel at around 9:31 pm." 

 

Then, Gangulee continued stating: "It came to light that the female student, while she was outside campus, had endured an assault - an occurrence she herself had claimed and reported."

 

The girl had been to the forest in the outskirts of Pardo village - barely a 500 metres away from the college campus with her classmate Wasif Ali at around  8:50 pm yesterday where she allegedly was raped by the outsider youths. The victim hailed from Jaleshwar in Odhisa. Her 50 year old father rushed to the college this morning, and after meeting his daughter, he lodged a complaint of gang rape against Wasif and his 'friends' with the New Township Police Station.

 

Wasif, as was learnt initially, had taken the fainted victim to the medical college's emergency ward where he had claimed that some 'outsider' youths had attacked them and after assaulting him had raped his girlfriend, one after another. The police meanwhile has detained Wasif and quizzed him repeatedly since last night. The hospital physicians found the victim bleeding and in sub-trauma, and the police were informed immediately. The officials from the local New Township Police Station rushed to the college promptly and gathered primary stock of the situation.

 

Wasif, meanwhile, claimed that he had 'rescued' his classmate girl from the clutches of the 'outsider' youths. The Deputy Commissioner of Police, Durgapur, Abhishek Gupta, meanwhile stated this afternoon: "We have kept the crime investigation on top priority following every procedure." He further said: "We haven't taken the male student into custody since he's cooperating well with the investigating officials, and our investigations progressed quite well do far " About the alleged 'outsiders', Gupta said: "Many things are still under scanner, which we need to scrutinise properly." 

 

 

The police inspected the place of occurrence inside the thin forest patch beside the Mohun Bagan road connecting the Durgapur Government College with the back side entrance of the private owned IQ City Medical College run by Mani group - a real estate developer of Kolkata.

 

The officials took videography of the site and also noted the measurement of the area and exact distance from the college campus. The officials expressed disgust about the security surveillance of the private college. The officials were surprised  - how the private medical college authorities allowed the students to frequent to the jungle areas in the odd evening hours! The officials said: "The backyard of the college is opened for the patient movement, and the students were not supposed to visit the area in the odd hours. It's equally surprising that the security guards assigned to supervise didn't prevent them from venturing outside."

 

The victim girl’s father, in his complaint, claimed: "Her classmate took my daughter to the 'vacant place' under false pretext." He also claimed that Rs 5,000 was snatched from his daughter's possession by the miscreants.

 

The BJP and the CPI-M separately camped at the private medical college campus since the morning hours today and demanded 'immediate arrest' of the culprits. The saffron party also camped in front of the New Township Police Station on the issue. State BJP leader and MLA, Durgapur (West), Lakshman Ghorui himself joined the stir. Ghorui alleged: "The police, like everywhere in Bengal, has still maintained dormant just because the accused belongs to the minority community." 

 

 

CPI-M's district committee leader Siddhartha Basu and his party cadres also were picketing at the hospital separately. He demanded: "The police is trying to shield the culprits, and the role of the medical college should be brought under scanner, that we have demanded."

 

The education hub, meanwhile, went shocked with the gradual shifting of the charges and 'findings'. The IQ City Medical College, though, accommodates a captive hospital where the 'victim' girl is still admitted,  however, hasn't officially accepted the incident as a case of 'gang rape' as yet. It's rather passed over the responsibility to the police and the girl, mentioning that the girl has claimed that she was raped. 

 

Why so - asked an irked Durgapur. "Their physicians couldn't estimate or diagnose whether the girl was or wasn't raped? It's really astonishing," exclaimed  Sharmistha Das, a veteran dermatologist of the city, adding: "Was it usual, whiped, or a deliberate attempt aimed to lead to ambiguity?" 

 

The Congress reserved their actions for the day and greased it's machinery for a protest scheduled tomorrow at the NTS PS. Debesh Chakranorty, party's district president said: "The State is failing to provide petrol to the patrolling police vehicles since long, and these resulted halting of surveillance in vulnerable pockets, which invite such nuisances."