Headlines
'Embarrassment' for Mamata as gang-raped nun leaves Bengal
Kolkata, March 20
Discharged from a hospital,
the nun who was gang-raped inside a convent in West Bengal's Nadia
district left West Bengal, prompting the opposition parties to call it
an "embarrassment" for the Mamata Banerjee government.
The sister
superior of the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Ranaghat was admitted to
Ranaghat sub-divisional hospital on March 14 with serious injuries after
she was brutalised by the gang of bandits who also looted the convent.
"The
convent authorities, along with the sub divisional officer and the sub
divisional police officer, gave a written application that the survivor
be discharged. After examining all the parameters, she was released in
the early hours of the day," hospital superintendent A.N. Mondal said.
"She
was taken to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport (Kolkata)
and considering her condition, we had sent a doctor who accompanied her
to the airport," said Mondal.
Archbishop of Kolkata Thomas
D`Souza said the survivor was taken to an undisclosed location for the
sake of her safety and security.
Already facing backlash over
police's failure to affect a single arrest in the case so far, the
Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress came in for more attacks from the
opposition as well as civil society members.
"This has become an
international matter and I don't know if she has left the country. She
has already left the state... I don't have words to express the
embarrassment," leader of opposition in the assembly and CPI-M state
secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra said.
Echoing Mishra, BJP leader
Tathagata Roy said: "People have realised that law and order doesn't
exist here. With the rapists still at large, there may be another attack
on her, they may even kill her this time."
Congress leader Abdul
Mannan said: "What can be a bigger shame for the state that despite
having a woman chief minister, a woman could not retain her faith on
this government."
Similar views were also expressed by social activists like Miratun Nahar, Bolan Ganguly and actor Kaushik Sen.
Meanwhile,
police have initiated a case against angry people who had blocked the
chief minister's convoy during her visit to Ranaghat on March 16.
"A
case of rioting, unlawful assembly, wrongful restraint, obstructing
public servant in discharge of public functions among other offences has
been registered against some people who had blocked the chief
minister's convoy," said a police officer.
Enraged over police's
failure to arrest any of the culprits, hundreds of people, including
school children, had blocked Banerjee's convoy, demanding the arrest of
the culprits and handing over the probe to the CBI (Central Bureau of
Investigation).
Stuck for over an hour, Banerjee had threatened
to take action against the demonstrators and blamed the BJP and the
CPI-M for trying to politicise the incident.
Banerjee on March 18 entrusted the probe to the CBI but the central agency is yet to formally take over.
The
National Commission for Women during the day took cognisance of the
incident that has continues to cause revulsion in the state and beyond.
Chairperson
Lalitha Kumaramangalam told IANS that the commission has taken
cognisance of the incident and a team is expected to visit the convent
on Saturday.
The Prime Minister's Office as well as the National
Human Rights Commission have already taken cognisance of the matter and
sought a detailed report from the Banerjee government.
'SC's obligation to protect women, churches and religious freedom'
The Supreme Court will hear a plea seeking security for women and
freedom of religion in the wake of attack on nuns and churches in some
parts of the country moved by a lawyer who held it was the apex court's
obligation to protect them.
"It is the duty of the court to take
suo motu cognizance of security of women and protect churches and
religious freedom from attacks," advocate Lily Thomas told a bench of
Chief Justice H.L. Dattu, Justice M.Y. Eqbal and Justice Arun Mishra on
Friday.
"It is the constitutional obligation of the apex court
and the court shall take suo motu action against the government for its
failure to protect the women, Churches and religious freedom," she told
the court in a mentioning.
Referring to Hindu holy book, the
"Bhagwad Gita", Thomas said that it was the court's obligation to
establish "dharma" (righteousness) by protecting poor and week.
"The
court and the judiciary in the present is the manifestation of Hindu
god Mahavishnu. In the 'Kalayuga' the avatar does not come as a person
but as an institution of judiciary," Thomas told the court as it asked
her to file her petition that it would hear next week.
The court
referred to Thomas' citing from the book as it declined to entertain a
plea by another advocate, seeking that the government be directed to
declare the "Bhagwad Gita" a national scripture.
Chief Justice Dattu quipped that the court are hearing shlokas from the Gita on Friday.