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| People hold a candle light vigil in Kolkata to protest against the gang-rape (Pic: IANS) |
MUMBAI (AA) - A murder case has been filed by the police on Saturday against the two men accused in the gang-rape of a 16-year old girl, who succumbed to death fighting burn injuries on December 31.
“We have filed a murder case against the two men accused on the basis of the final statement of the girl in which she had said that she was set on fire,” Additional Commissioner of Police, (Bidhannagar police) Anant told Press Trust of India.
Anant said that the teenager was pregnant at the time of the death quoting the doctor who treated the victim.
“We have sent the foetus to the forensic science laboratory for determination of the age of the foetus,” he said.
The victim’s family has claimed that she was burnt alive by her alleged rapists.
The victim’s family members met West Bengal Governor M.K. Narayanan on Friday demanding death penalty for the rapists. They also sought security for the family.
According to the media reports, the teenage girl, was gang-raped on October 25 in Madhyamgram and found lying in a field near her house. She was forcibly taken and allegedly gang-raped again by the same gang after the girl was returning home with her parents after lodging a police complaint.
Six people were arrested after locals demanded immediate action against the alleged rapists. On December 23, the girl and her family were threatened by a close associate of the gang threatening to withdraw the rape complaint.
In her dying declaration, the girl said she was set on fire by her attackers.
The girl’s death has sparked outrage in Kolkata with rights group blaming the police.
The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, an international rights group, condemned the incident and questioned the role of police.
“Police appeared to have done nothing to protect the young woman and her family after her initial complaint of being victim to heinous kind of gang rape,” the group said in a media statement.
“Police appeared to have heartlessly pressurised the family to dispose of her body for its mishandling in order to save themselves from dealing with public anger and protest,” the group said.
On Friday morning, the funeral rites of the victim seem to have generated a political controversy with the presence of TMC (Trinamool Congress) politician Ashok Jha who objected to the presence of CPM (Communist Party of Indian-Marxist) councillor Sudhangshu Seal.
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