West Bengal: Rebel TMC MP Faces Hostility as Town Grieves Rape-Murder of 11-Year-Old Girl
Trinamool Congress MP Saayoni Ghosh and MLA Ritabrata Banerjee, who have rebelled against Mamata Banerjee's leadership, faced 'go back' and 'chor' (thief) slogans in Baruipur, West Bengal, when they visited the family of an 11-year-old rape-murder victim. Baruipur, part of the Jadavpur parliamentary constituency represented by Ghosh, has been on edge since the girl's body was found in a sack dumped in a pond.
Police have filed a case under sections of gangrape and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The preliminary autopsy confirmed sexual assault and revealed that the child was alive when thrown into the pond. The unrest escalated after a man close to one of the accused was lynched.
As Ghosh approached the victim's home, a crowd shouted 'gaddar' (traitor) and 'go back', apparently targeting her for opposing former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Some also questioned why she had come three days after the discovery of the body. Speaking to the victim's mother, Ghosh said, 'I have no words, only that we are with you. The Chief Minister will ensure that no mother will lose their child as you did. This is not the time to think whether we are ISF, BJP, NCPI or TMC. We must all stand together against such a horrific crime.' She added that she would meet the Chief Minister to demand strictest punishment for the culprits.
The crime has sparked a political storm in West Bengal, occurring less than two months after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took power. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, who recently left the Trinamool Congress, faces a major test. Mamata Banerjee has targeted the state government after being stopped from visiting Baruipur.
The Trinamool Congress is in turmoil after its defeat in the May election. Twenty of its 28 Lok Sabha MPs have joined the newly formed Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), and about 60 of its 80 MLAs have rebelled against Banerjee's leadership, though they have not yet joined another party.
Leaders from both Trinamool factions and the BJP have visited the victim's family. Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, who leads Trinamool's rebel faction in Parliament, also met the family and demanded capital punishment for the culprits, urging the immediate enactment of the Aparajita Women and Child (West Bengal Criminal Laws Amendment) Bill, 2024. The Bill, passed unanimously by the Bengal Assembly, provides for the death penalty if sexual assault results in the victim's death or leaves them in a vegetative state, and enhances minimum punishment for rape to life imprisonment for the remainder of the convict's natural life.
