Despite facing intense attacks from Trinamool Congress leaders for publicly demanding the resignation of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the aftermath of the RG Kar rape and murder, the parents of the victim struck to their guns on Monday. The victim’s parents have publicly accused the Kolkata Police and hospital authorities of attempting to destroy evidence in their daughter’s rape and murder case. They also criticized the CBI for failing to uncover a larger conspiracy behind the crime.
“We believe the CM has utterly failed since she is holding both the Health and Police portfolios and worked to destroy evidence and shield the actual culprits. We have every right to express our feelings,” the victim’s father said. A clutch of Trinamool Congress leaders – Minister Firhad Hakim, Lok Sabha MP Kalyan Bandyopadhyay and spokesperson Kunal Ghosh – took up cudgels to criticise the victim’s father for his comments.
West Bengal Minister Firhad Hakim accused the parents of maligning Chief Minister for political motives. His remarks followed similar allegations by Kunal Ghosh, who claimed that the parents were being “used” by groups aiming to discredit the Mamata Banerjee Government. Ghosh alleged that the parents of the victim are being “used” by the forces which want to “defame, malign and plot conspiracy against the Mamata Banerjee Government”. Kunal Ghosh said: “Please don’t let yourself (parents) be used by any party with a vested interest.”
Hakim expressed sympathy for the parents but criticized their statements against the Chief Minister. “I share the parents’ pain and anguish. I share their reservations about the way the CBI investigated the case after taking it over from Kolkata Police but targeting the CM without reason is unacceptable. The CM was elected by popular mandate, not by those using the parents as puppets for their agenda,” said Hakim, who also serves as the mayor of Kolkata.
He further alleged that the parents were “mouthing scripted lines” provided by vested interests. Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Bandyopadhyay accused the parents of indulging in politics over the issue and playing in the hands of vested interests. “They should not mouth scripted lines like parrots,” he said. “Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee cannot disown the responsibility for the attempt of the police and hospital authorities to destroy evidence of the rape and murder of our daughter,” the parents of the deceased doctor said. “The State Government attempted to shield the main conspirators behind the crime, while the CBI failed to bring to book all the perpetrators and overlooked the larger conspiracy aspect, the parents said.
In response to Ghosh’s comment, the father of the deceased medic said: “We have not been used by any quarter. We have lost everything. We only wish that justice is done to our daughter before our death. Yes, we think this CM has utterly failed. We have every right to say whatever we feel like,” the father said. Meanwhile, on Monday, the Calcutta High Court reserved its order on the admission of two separate appeals, one by the West Bengal Government and the other by the CBI, challenging a trial court order which sentenced R G Kar hospital rape-murder convict Sanjay Roy to life imprisonment till death and demanding the death penalty for the convict.
The court’s Division Bench, presided by Justice Debangsu Basak, heard both the State Government and the CBI, who argued that the January 20 order of the Sealdah sessions court sentencing Roy, the sole convict in the crime, to life imprisonment till death was inadequate. Both the CBI and the State Government separately prayed for capital punishment for the convict. The CBI claimed before the Bench that only it has the right to move an appeal before the High Court on grounds of inadequacy of sentence since it was the investigation and prosecution agency of the case.
The State Government argued that apart from the Central agency, it too can move an appeal claiming inadequacy of sentence given by the trial court. Advocate General Kishore Dutta, representing the West Bengal Government, opened the day’s arguments before the Division Bench for admission of the State’s appeal. The parents of the doctor victim and the convict were represented before the court by their respective lawyers as per the earlier direction of the Division Bench.
Representing the CBI, Additional Solicitor General S V Raju submitted that the agency had registered an FIR in the rape-murder of the doctor after the case was handed over to it by the High Court. He said that on the order of the High Court, papers related to the case were handed over by the Kolkata Police to the CBI. Raju submitted that the State did not have any say in the investigation or the trial in the case and had not even submitted any application before the sessions court seeking to participate in the trial.
Raju stated that the State “is suddenly showing interest in the matter at this stage, seeking admission of its appeal challenging the quantum of sentence awarded by the trial court”. He claimed that the State’s appeal is not admissible as it has no authority to do so. The lawyers for both the complainant parents and the convict stated before the court that they have no submission to make on the question of admission of appeal by the State and the CBI.