West Bengal: Despite new laws to combat the problem, a rape is reported every 15 minutes, leaving victims and families crying out for justice
It was a historic day for women in India. Mamata Banerjee and her party won a spectacular election victory in West Bengal, defeating the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) of the prime minister, Narendra Modi, defying many predictions. Securing a third term as chief minister, she was the only woman in such an important position in India.
The following day, 3 May, while TV anchors debated how Banerjee’s win represented not only a strong force against Modi but also made her a powerful woman in a patriarchal country, a 20-year-old student, known only as Jana (her identity cannot be revealed under Indian law), was cornered by two men in a village, about 70 miles west of Kolkata, West Bengal’s main city.
The builders were working in the abandoned mud-brick house of her family, adjacent to their double-storey home.
“The girl was cornered by the two men,” said police. “When she protested, one covered her mouth and the other dragged her and then they raped her inside the mud house.”
This happened, the police investigation revealed, in front of a female co-worker who was silent as the men choked Jana to death. Web Desk
