The West Bengal chief minister has received flak for her ‘pregnant or love affair’ remark in the Nadia rape case. While the NCW has termed it ‘unfortunate’, the BJP called it ‘shameless’
In the Nadia rape case, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee asked if the incident could be called rape, love affair, a case of pregnancy or any other reason. AFP
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is facing ire from all corners of society for her insensitive comments about the alleged rape and murder of a minor in which the son of her party leader is the prime accused.
The National Commission for Women termed the Trinamool Congress chief’s remark ‘unfortunate’. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was tougher on her, saying that her comments were shameful. The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-(M)) demanded a public apology from the chief minister for her comments.
Noted personalities from the state also voiced their dissent and disgust at the remarks made by the Bengal chief minister. The mother of the 2012 Delhi gang rape victim too voiced her criticism, saying that Mamata did “not deserve the chief minister post if she is making such comments about a victim who has been violated,” as per an India Today report.
This isn’t the first time she’s found herself embroiled in a controversy over her remarks. Here’s a look at her past follies.
‘Has she been raped, or was she pregnant, or was it a love affair?’
A minor girl was allegedly raped at Hanskhali in Nadia district earlier this month. The victim’s family alleges that the son Trinamool Congress panchayat leader perpetrated the crime on 4 April when she went to attend his birthday party. The parents added that she died the next day due to excessive bleeding.
They further alleged that the Trinamool Congress leader’s family forcibly tried to burn the girl’s body by pouring kerosene.
Subsequently, the prime accused and son of a gram pradhan member, Brajagopal Gayali alias Sohail was arrested.
While the crime itself was horrific, the comments from the West Bengal chief minister drew even more outrage.
At an event organised by her administration, Mamata asked if the incident could be called rape, love affair, a case of pregnancy or any other reason.
“Are you going to call it rape or pregnant or a love affair? I asked the police. It was a bad thing, and an arrest has been made; but I heard there was a love affair between the boy and the girl. Was it an actual rape? Or was she pregnant? Or was there any other reason? Or was she repeatedly slapped? Even her family members knew she was having an affair,” Banerjee said.
“If some boy or a girl is having an affair, how can I stop that? This is not Uttar Pradesh that I will start a love jihad programme. The girl died on the 5 April, the police got to know on the 10th. If somebody died on the 5th and there was any ground for suspicion or any complaint, then why was not a complaint filed before the police on the 5th itself? You burnt the body. I am speaking as a layman, without knowing the full details. Where will they get the evidence?,” the chief minister asked.
The Opposition, the BJP, lashed out at the chief minister, calling it shameful. Her bete noire, Suvendu Adhikari, said Mamata’s remark was absolutely beyond condemnation.
BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya also accused her of trivialising the incident. He tweeted, “Shocking statement by Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, who trivialises the brutal rape and murder of a 14 year old girl in Nadia’s Hanskhali. She questions the victim and asks if it was a love affair or a case of unplanned pregnancy gone awry! Because the accused is TMC leader’s son.”
‘Fabricated incident’
Mamata’s recent rape comment is reminiscent of her reaction to the 2012 Park Street rape case.
A woman was gang-raped by five men inside a moving car in the wee hours of 5 February 2012. She filed a police complaint on 9 February and a medical examination on 14 February confirmed rape.
However, Mamata dismissed the crime as a “fabricated incident” (shajano ghotona), she said in Bengali aimed at maligning her government.
Echoing similar sentiments, her party colleague Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar called the Park Street rape case of Kolkata a “misunderstanding between a lady and her client”.
Also read: A look at other politicos’ most sexist statements
‘CPI-M people’
In 2013, a 20-year-old college student was abducted, gang-raped and murdered in Kamduni village, near Basarat. Mamata had called the women, who were demanding action against the accused as “CPI(M) supporters”.
She had also initiated police action against some prominent women’s rights activists who had taken up the rape and murder case.
‘Rape incidents rising because men and women interact more freely now’
In her attempt to explain why India was witnessing a rise in rape cases, the TMC chief in 2012 had come up with this bizarre reasoning.
“Earlier if men and women would hold hands, they would get caught by parents and reprimanded but now everything is so open. It’s like an open market with open options,” she had then said.
With inputs from agencies
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