Seek Mamata Banerjee’s forgiveness, says father of Durgapur rape survivor
The classmate, who had accompanied her for dinner outside the campus when the incident took place, was also named by the survivor’s father in his complaint
KOLKATA: The father of the 23-year-old medical student raped in a forested area near her college campus in West Bengal’s Durgapur on October 10 asked West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday to forgive him for his sharp criticism, saying the only thing that mattered to him was his daughter’s life.
"If I have made any comment, then I seek Mamata Banerjee’s forgiveness…. The police carried out an investigation and arrested the suspects," he told reporters on Wednesday, a day after the police arrested the sixth suspect, his daughter’s classmate. He was remanded in police custody for seven days by a court.
The woman, a resident of Jaleshwar in Odisha, is admitted at the private IQ City Medical College Hospital where she is a student.
The classmate, who had accompanied her for dinner outside the campus when the incident took place, was also accused by the survivor’s father in his police complaint. Five villagers, who worked as daily wage labourers, were earlier arrested in the case.
The father’s apology on Wednesday came just two days after he criticised Banerjee’s remarks that “women should not venture out at night”, saying that he no longer felt safe in West Bengal. “It seems Bengal is under the rule of Aurangzeb. I want to take my daughter back to Odisha. Her life comes first, career later,” he said on October 13, according to PTI.
On October 12, when three villagers, Apu Bauri,21, Firdous Shiekh, 23, and Sheikh Riazuddin, 31, were remanded in police custody for 10 days, the survivor’s father had accused the police and Mamata Banerjee of “telling lies”. Two more villagers, Sheikh Safiqul, 30, and Sheikh Nasiruddin, 23, were remanded in police custody for nine days on October 13.
On Tuesday, Asansol-Durgapur police commissioner Sunil Kumar Choudhary ruled out gang-rape, insisting that medical reports and police investigation established that only one person committed the crime, contrary to the survivor’s allegation that five men raped her.
Choudhary had also countered the father’s charge that the police didn’t take action till Odisha chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi intervened. Majhi had spoken to the woman’s mother over the phone on Tuesday while the Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party unit continued to hold a sit-in agitation in Durgap
Choudhary said: “When he arrived here, we had a meeting at my office for one hour. He has my phone number and the numbers of all senior officers. We offered him personal security but he refused saying he would stay with a relative. We have posted police personnel at the hospital for his daughter’s security”.
Security camera footage collected by police from the college showed the rape survivor and her male friend leaving the campus at 7.54 pm. The male student returned around 8.42 pm and was seen loitering around. He did not report the incident to anyone. He left again at 8.48 pm and returned with the victim at 9.29 pm.
The survivor later alleged that the suspects called up her friend from her phone after she was gang-raped.
