West Bengal Rape & Murder: Victim's Father Named in FIR for Destroying Evidence

A still from an anti-rape protest. Image used for representational purposes.

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A First Information Report (FIR) in the case of the alleged rape and murder of a minor girl in West Bengal's Hanskhali village now includes the names of the victim's father, relative, and a neighbour in addition to that of the main accused Brajagopal Goyala, reported The Indian Express.

The father and relatives have reportedly been booked for "destroying evidence" as they had cremated the girl's body soon after she died without obtaining a death certificate or filing a police complaint.

A 14-year-old girl from the Hanskhali village died earlier this month, after she was allegedly gang-raped at a birthday party. The girl's family have alleged that Goyala, the son of a local panchayat member of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) is the prime accused in the case.

“We don’t know why our names are there,” said the relative who has been named in the FIR.

Speaking to journalists, the father said that the accused had threatened him to carry out the cremation. “They (the accused) had threatened us against taking her to a doctor. After she died, they were the one who forced us to do the cremation,” he said, as per The Indian Express.

Background

Goyala was arrested by the police on 10 April, after the girl's parents filed a complaint on 9 April, four days after the incident occurred. He has been booked under charges of rape, suppression of evidence, murder, and under sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The complaint mentioned that the minor went to Goyala's house for a birthday party, returned home unwell, and died soon after.

"Our daughter was bleeding profusely and had severe abdominal pain after she came back from the party at the residence of the local TMC leader's son, and before we could take her to hospital, she died," the complaint stated.

The family also alleged that the minor's body was forcibly taken for cremation even before the death certificate could be issued.

Reacting to the incident, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had declared that the child commission would probe the matter.

The Calcutta High Court had on Tuesday, 12 April, ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate the case.

(With inputs from The Indian Express.)