Is Kolkata also unsafe for Women in the city ?
Kolkata – A woman in her late 30s filed an FIR against 5 people accusing them of gang-raping her in a moving car, on gun-point. She had met them in a Night Club last Sunday. She happened to trace them out on Facebook and took all of their snaps and presented it to the Police which is also accused of being reluctant. Initialy she was denied a copy of FIR as well which she managed to get today. The victim is waiting for her medical reports. Meanwhile , the people accused are breathing free air!
The national capital has been experiencing such incident quite frequently but this time it is the city of joy – Kolkata which has developed doubts on the security of womankind in the city!
Social Networking Sites like Facebook and Twitter may be a major cause of concern for urban parents who cannot drag their kids away from the computers but surely it has also been a great medium of social awareness amongst its users. In this case , Facebook has played a great role by helping the victim find the culprits. Had facebook not been there , who knows if the incident would have been forgotten as worst nightmare by the victim herself. She did not have any clue as to who these people were as she had met them probably just few hours before and forsure their gesture and appearence would not have raised warnings to the victim as it is normally believed that only cultured, literate and polished people visit Night Clubs of Five Star Hotels.
16th February’2012
Details of the Incident as explained on Telegraph Newspaper:
The incident happened on February 5th between Park Street and Exide Crossing in a Moving Honda Car(the victim does not recall if it was Civic or City).
The victim is a single parent to two daughters and stays in Behala with her mother and daughters.
The incident was explained to Lalbazar Police Station on Wednesday till mid-night and the cops had yet not given any formal response till then. An FIR was however lodged on 8th February.
The Disagreements at the initial stages of investigation as claimed by cops :
The key suspect as mentioned by the victim was in Canada and is said to be there since January 1st. While one of the suspect is being claimed to be attending religious ceremony at home and supported by her family and relatives.
Also the phone records of the suspects did not indicate that they were in Park Street on the very same day at around that time when the incident took place.
The cops also claim to have had a word with around 80 witnesses on the matter.
Incident Narrated by Victim to News Channel Star Ananda:
On Sunday, 5th February she had goe to her family club in Park Street at around 9:15 pm and met friends there. They drank some beer there when a friends suggested to go to a pub nearby and they went had some more beer there. She was accompanied by a male and a female friend one of whom again suggested to go to a Discotheque which was renovated.It was about 12 am then.At around 12:45 am her friends left and she said she would leave after some time as she wanted to drink one more beer. She explained , she have been keeping upset since last 2 months due to some financial problems and other petty issues. While the friends left, she noticed a guy staring at her sitting across the bar with his friends. Then he came and introduced himself and his two friends among the many who were there. They started having casual talks when the guy revealed he owned a Call-Centre and to this she replied she had once worked in a call-centre but ha to leave due to some issues. Knowing this the guy threw an offer at him of joining his office as he was looking for an HR person. While talking she noticed it was about 1:30 am and she should leave as it was getting too late and told the same to the guy. However, the guy told she can be dropped home by him as he has got his car parked outside and insisted to drop her at least till any nearest taxi-stand. The guy seemed decent enough to reject the offer hence she agreed.
When she and the guy got in , at the back they were joined by 3 more guys out of whom two sat at the back with the lead-culprit and the victim and one in front. The car had a driver as well. As explained by her once the car took speed the body-language of the guys changed and one of them pulled her jacket. When she asked them to stop the car and let her go one of them started hitting her in stomach and on the face and also caught her by hairs. While she kept pleading the guy took out a gun and placed it in her mouth and threatened to kill her if she kept screaming and resisting. She also mentioned these people were talking in Hindi.
Once they were done they pushed her out of the Car near Exide from where she fortunately got a taxi while sitting there helpless and stunned for a while. She went back home and her condition was self-explanatory to her mother who somehow managed to ease her up. She was willing to forget the incident initially as the guys had threatened to harm and kill her if she reported to the cops. After the support from close relatives she summoned up all the guts to file the FIR . She managed to trace the snaps of the guys on Facebook and gave the same to the cops to investigate.
Well, initial investigations reveal many disagreements including the main – suspect being in Canada since January 1st and other people involved did not show their mobile phones around Park Street at the time of incident. More is yet to be revealed as the Medical Report of the victim is awaited.