Kolkata: On Monday, a tribal girl and a man from another village with whom she was allegedly in relationship were forcibly taken to a salishi sabha (akin to khap panchayat) in a village in Birb-hum district where the morol (village head) asked them to pay Rs 25,000 each.
The brother of the youth paid the fine and he was allowed to leave. The girl’s family could not pay and so the head man handed her over to the youths who raped her throughout the night.
On Tuesday, she was not allowed to go to the hospital. On Wednesday night, she was eventually admitted to Bolpur hospital.
CPM MP Ramchandra Dom said the very fact that the police did not seek custody of the accused suggests that it wanted to shield them.
Sacked SP Sudhakar said that since police had arrested all the accused, there was no need for police custody. Lawyer Jayanta Narayan Chatterjee said “The police needed to quiz them thoroughly to unearth the entire truth.”
