Retired scientist’s daughter stripped, thrashed in Bengal

April 18, 2012

daughter

Baruipur, April 18: A 30-year-old woman lay bleeding in front of her home for two hours after allegedly being molested and beaten up by rowdies on Sunday while police looked the other way. She says she was stripped and assaulted in front of her father, a retired scientist, by their landlord and members of a local club.

Police took their time responding to her SOS. The two policemen who finally arrived did not bother to take a complaint, or help her and her father, Aparesh Bhattacharya, get to a hospital. They left them bleeding on the road. They picked themselves up and went to SSKM to get their wounds treated and could file a complaint at Baruipur police station only on Tuesday.

The main accused, Goutam Pal, denies the charges. On Tuesday, Pal's wife filed a counter complaint, accusing the elderly scientist of molesting her. Locals are too scared to talk about the incident, saying that those accused in the assault are members of both Trinamool Congress and CPM.

The woman, a law graduate, and her father rented Pal's first-floor apartment in Mullickpur, South 24-Parganas, in February this year after Bhattacharya retired from the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology. Soon after moving in, he proposed to buy the flat from Pal but the two parties got into a legal wrangle over the purchase agreement. Pal started asking Bhattacharya to vacate the flat in March.

According to the Bhattacharyas, a gang of around 20 men barged into the house around 1.30pm on Sunday and attacked them. The goons stripped the woman, molested her and dragged the father-daughter out on to the street where the assault continued. Someone informed Baruipur police station but the goons had left well before the cops arrived.

"We were shaken, scared and helpless. Around 3pm, when two policemen came, we felt relieved but they refused to help us. Leave alone taking a complaint, they would not help us get to hospital," said Bhattacharya.

"I get a chill down my spine whenever I think about the incident. They tore my clothes, molested me and assaulted me and my father. There were so many of them. We were just two. I want the guilty to be punished," she told TOI on Tuesday. The homeless duo went to Baruipur police station on Tuesday along with a lawyer and lodged a police complaint.

"I do not know the names of the club members who raided our house because we are new in the locality. But I know at least four of them by face. One of them is secretary of the club. They must have some political clout or else how would they dare commit such rowdism in broad daylight," said Bhattacharya.

Police have registered a case of attempt to rape, molestation and grievous injury against Pal and others. On Tuesday Pal's wife also lodged a complaint accusing the Bhattacharyas of attacking her.

"The Bhattacharyas wanted to buy the flat for 40 lakh and gave Rs 2 lakh as advance. When they defaulted on paying the rest, we asked them to vacate the house. How can they forcefully occupy it? When I went to my house, the retired scientist misbehaved with me and their pet dogs pounced on me and my relative. On hearing our screams, the club members came to our rescue," she said.

Neighbours who witnessed the incident are too scared to speak. "I saw a group of men entering the house and heard the father-daughter pleading. But since Pal is very influential and the club members are affiliated to both Trinamool and CPM, none of us dared to protest. Whatever happened was very unfortunate but we could not help the Bhattacharyas," said a neighbour.

Trinamool MLA Biman Banerjee denied the club was involved. "The dispute is between the landlord and the tenant. Some club members must have gone there on hearing of the incident but they had no direct role. Let the law take its course," said Banerjee, the assembly speaker.

CPM district secretary Sujan Chabraborty said: "I do not want to get into the dispute on the possession of the house as it will be decided by court. But I strongly protest the atrocity on the woman."

"Both the parties have been fighting a legal case regarding the purchase of the flat for sometime now. On Tuesday we received complaint from both sides. We are investigating them," said additional SP (rural) South 24-Parganas Kankar Prasad Barui.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
July 7,2020

Meerut: The licence of a private hospital in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut has been suspended after a video showing its staff member providing fake Covid-19 report had gone viral.

"A video had gone viral in Meerut. We have registered a case in this regard. We have suspended the licence of the nursing home. Today, we have sealed it also. Strict action will be taken against anybody who will do something like this in this time of crisis,” said Anil Dhingra, District Magistrate, Meerut.

In the video, the person can be heard saying that they provide Covid-19 negative report for Rs 2,500, Dhingra stated.

Meerut CMO Rajkumar said, “In the video, a man from the hospital can be heard saying that he can arrange COVID-19 negative report and the person can get operation or other things done. We have identified the man. We have suspended the licence of the hospital and an FIR has been registered.”

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
January 16,2020

Cuttack, Jan 16: At least 15 passengers were injured as five coaches of the Mumbai-Bhubaneswar Lokmanya Tilak Express derailed and three more were displaced after colliding with a goods train amid heavy fog near Cuttack in Odisha on Thursday, railway officials said.

Railway officials had earlier said that 25 passengers were injured in the incident but later officers who reached the site reported that four passengers were found to have suffered major injuries and 11 had received minor injuries.

Passengers with major injuries have been sent to Cuttack Medical College. All passengers are stated to be out of danger.

Officials said the accident happened when the passenger train hit the guard van of a good train around 7 am between Salagaon and Nergundi stations.

The officials said there was heavy fog at the site but it was not clear what led to the accident. The speedometer of both the trains have been seized for inquiry, East Coast Railway Spokesperson J P Mishra said.

Buses have been arranged for all remaining passengers to move towards their destination.

Cuttack is around 10-12 km away and Bhubaneswar(Terminating station) is 35 km.

The accident disrupted train services in the area.

Five trains have been affected due to the accident where restoration work in underway. These include the Bhubaneswar-Mumbai LTT SF Express, the Puri-Rourkela Express, Dhanbad-Bhubaneshwar Rajyarani Express which have all been diverted via Naraj.

"East Coast Railway acknowledges with deep gratitude help of nearby locals and villagers who have displayed great humanitarian values and come to the rescue of injured passengers," Mishra said.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
June 10,2020

Jun 10: In a suspected case of honor killing in Telangana, a 20-year old woman was allegedly smothered to death by her parents for being in love with a man from another caste, becoming pregnant and refusing to undergo an abortion, police said on Tuesday.

The parents killed their daughter using a pillow while she was asleep in the early hours of June 7 in their house in Kalukuntla in Jogulamba-Gadwal district and sought to project it as natural death, claiming she died of a heart attack.

However, following specific information and suspicion raised by the village secretary over the death of the woman, a college student, a probe was launched and the couple arrested on charges of murder under Indian Penal Code section 302 after post-mortem, police said.

The parents decided to kill the woman, the youngest of their three daughters, a day after she was found pregnant and refused to undergo an abortion, police said.

The woman had fallen in love with the man while pursuing her degree course in Kurnool district in neighboring Andhra Pradesh and informed her parents about it after she was found pregnant during an examination by a doctor. Her parents feared that their daughter may elope with her lover and brought pressure on her to go for abortion.

Though initially, she agreed, later she declined, following which they killed her and told everyone that their daughter died of heart attack, the police official said. When a police team went to their house and insisted on a post-mortem after noticing some marks on her body indicating a struggle, the parents tried to stop it, saying there was no need.

Later, police shifted the body to a hospital where a post-mortem revealed the woman was "throttled to death". Her parents during interrogation confessed to killing their daughter, the official said, adding they were arrested.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.