2013 Kamduni gang rape and murder case
On 7 June 2013, a 20-year-old college student was abducted, gang-raped and murdered in Kamduni village, 16 km from Barasat, North 24 Parganas district about 20 km from main Kolkata. The victim, a second year BA student of Derozio College, was walking home along the Kamduni BDO Office Road in the afternoon, when she was abducted and taken inside a factory where she was gang-raped by eight men. After raping her, the perpetrators tore apart her legs up to the navel, slit her throat and dumped her body into a nearby field.. In January 2016 the accused were sentenced to death and life imprisonment..
Incident
At around 8:30 pm local time, the brothers of the victim discovered the brutalized, mutilated, naked body of their sister alongside a bheri in the At Bigha region of Kharibari in Rajarhat. At around 9:45pm, an altercation and subsequent skirmish occurred between the villagers and the police when the latter tried to recover the body of the victim. The crowd damaged three police vehicles. At around 2 am, a huge police contingent recovered the victim's body from the villagers and sent it to Barasat for post mortem.On the evening of June 15, a contingent of the Indian Reserve Battalion started flag march in Kamduni. In spite of the paramilitary vigil a team of Citizen's Forum visited Kamduni. Several women's organizations, including Matangini Mahila Samiti, Maitri, Manabi, Ahalya and Chetana, visited Kamduni.
On 17 June, Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, visited Kamduni. She promised that charge sheet would be produced against the arrested within 15 days of the incident and that her government would plead for the capital punishment of the culprits. However, nothing has been done so far because of the stronghold of the Trinamool Congress in the area.
Victim
The name of the victim is Shipra Ghosh. While some of the media have published her real name, others have used pseudonyms like Aparajita. The victim belonged to a Bengali Hindu family of the Kamduni village under Kirtipur II Gram Panchayat in the Barasat II Block in North 24 Parganas district. She was second among three siblings in the family of two brothers and one sister. Her father works as a mason helper in the construction sites, earning around Rs 150 - 200 per day. Her mother sells muri and chhatu.Arrests
The residents of Kamduni caught hold of Ansar Ali, the prime accused, and handed him over to the police. After interrogation, he confessed to have committed the crime along with four others. Five persons were named in the FIR. Based on that, the district police arrested three persons in the early hours of 8 June.Prosecution
The case is being investigated by the CID, West Bengal. On 16 June, the CID officers took the eight accused to Kamduni to reconstruct the incident amid tight security by the police and Indian Reserve Battalion. For 45 minutes, the accused recounted how they had gang raped and then murdered the victim, throwing her body over the boundary wall afterwards. Even fifteen days after the incident, no charge sheet was filed. On 22 June, Ansar Ali was remanded in judicial custody for 14 days. The accused and State Govt. want the legal proceedings shifted from Barasat court.Finally in January 2016, the accused were sentenced - some were sentenced to death and others to life imprisonment. Additional Sessions Judge Sanchita Sarkar handed out a death sentence to Ansar Ali, Saiful Ali and Aminul Ali, while Emanul Islam, Aminur Islam and Bhola Naskar were sentenced to life imprisonment for the gang-rape and murder of Shipra Ghosh on June 7, 2013.
Protests
Protests by Kamduni residents
From the early morning of 8 June, the Kamduni residents began their protest at the Kamduni bus stop, demanding exemplary punishment for the culprits. Jyotipriya Mallick, the Minister for Food and Supplies met the villagers and promised job for the victim's elder brother, which was promptly rejected by the villagers. The protesters were also visited by Haji Nurul Islam, the M.P. from Bashirhat and Nirmal Ghosh, the President of North 24 Parganas District Trinamool Congress. When the former blamed the CPI for this crime, his car was damaged by the protesters.From the night of 7 June till 9 June, the protests were mainly held at the Kamduni bus stop on Rajarhat Main Road, 2 km from the Kamduni village. On 10 June, the Kamduni residents protested in front of Barasat II BDO Office. On 11 June, the Kamduni residents staged a protest march in Barasat. From the Kachari Maidan they proceeded to Champadali, where they were joined by the protesters of the Sutia rape case. Many people from Barasat and Naihati participated in the protest march. When the procession reached Champadali, the activists of Hindu Samhati were protesting the rape and murder. The procession then moved towards the court, from where another procession of the lawyers had started. On 12 June, the brothers of the victim met the Chief Minister at the Writers Building. The Chief Minister offered a government job to the elder brother, offered to bear the cost of treatment of the victim's parents and the cost of education of the younger brother. But the victim's brothers refused the help and demanded capital punishment for the victims. On 4 July, people of Kamduni protested against CID's incomplete charge sheet. They demanded exemplary punishment for the criminals.
Citizen's protests
On 10 June, human rights group APDR staged a dharna in front of the Chief Minister's secretariat office, but the latter refused to meet them. On 11 June, Hindu Samhati staged a protest rally and road blockade in Champadali, Barasat, disrupting the traffic on Jessore Road. The activists clashed with the police and damaged police vehicles. The activists of Youth Congress gheraoed the Barasat police station and submitted a memorandum to the police. They also blocked the K N C Road disrupting the traffic. The lawyers of Barasat Bar took out a procession in protest against the crime. The body declared that no lawyer in Barasat would stand for the accused. In the evening a hundreds of residents brought out a candle light procession in Baguiati, Kolkata. On 14 June, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh backed civil society body Sachetan Nagrik Manch organized a silent march from College Square to Shyambazar crossing demanding capital punishment for the culprits.On 16 June, members of a Facebook community staged a protest march in Dakbanglow More, Barasat. The students of Visva-Bharati University too staged a protest march. On 18 June, around 400 government employees of the Writers' Building marched around the Writers' Building in protest against the Kamduni gang rape and murder. Eminent intellectuals including Shankha Ghosh Nabaneeta Dev Sen, Mrinal Sen, Mahashweta Devi and Tarun Majumder gave a call for a protest march from College Square to the Metro Channel on 21 June. On 20 June, eminent intellectuals including filmmaker Aparna Sen held a protest meet at College Square. On 21 June, the intellectuals of Kolkata led by poet Shankha Ghosh and actor Soumitra Chatterjee among others, convened a protest march from College Street to the Metro Channel in protest against the growing crimes against women in the state and the Barasat gang rape and murder incident in particular. Thousands of men and women including eminent intellectuals and students participated in the march. They were joined by activists of human rights organizations, different Naxalite factions, Left Front, Congress and transgender organizations. The residents of Kamduni, Sutia and Gede too participated in the march.