The shocking details in the autopsy report of a female trainee doctor who was brutally killed after rape in a medical college in Kolkata have shocked the nation and sparked massive outrage. Protests, candle light marches, voices demanding Justice and accountability from the government and administration have flooded streets and social media. Opposition parties including the BJP, Congress and the Left have launched scathing attacks on the Trinamool Congress government. They have blamed them for attempting to save the accused instead of ensuring Justice for the deceased trainee doctor.
The opposition parties have also been demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Additionally, on Tuesday (13th August), the Calcutta High Court transferred the rape and murder case of the female trainee doctor to the CBI to inspire confidence in the public and made several critical remarks against the administration’s actions in the case.
However, facing massive backlash, the ruling party in the state, Trinamool Congress on Wednesday (14th August), staged a protest demanding Justice in a 34-year-old rape and murder case.
Failing on the narrative, TMC is now sitting in Dharna in front of the residence of Bantala Rape Victim, Anita Dewan's. The incident had occurred during the CPIM rule (1990) but TMC is doing this protests now demanding punishment for the accused. Video by Jago Bangla Digital pic.twitter.com/ftLZHk8e3U
— Sudhanidhi Bandyopadhyay (@SudhanidhiB) August 14, 2024
Notably, on Wednesday afternoon, several TMC leaders staged a protest alleging that Justice was not served in the Bantala gangrape case of 1990. TMC MLA Supti Pandey, Councilor Swarna Kamal Saha and leaders Kunal Ghosh, Arup Chakraborty, Ayan Chakraborty and Meenakshi Gangopadhyay gathered in front of the house of late Anita Dewan, a gangrape victim who lost her life in 1990, to demand Justice in the Bantala gangrape case.
During the protest, TMC leaders including Kunal Ghosh alleged that the real culprits in the 1990 case were not punished. He claimed that while the then CM Jyoti Basu said, “Such things keep happening!”, current CM Mamata Banerjee has taken a strict stance in the RG Kar Medical college case. During the protest over the 1990 case, TMC leaders also demanded that strict action should be taken in the recent rape and murder case that took place in Kolkata.
Meanwhile, taking to X, Kunal Ghosh also shared pictures of the protest and wrote in Bengali, “Dharna and rally from the house of Dr. Anita Dewan, who was raped and murdered in Bantala, condemned the incident and demanded punishment of the real culprits. Real CPM leaders, workers were saved by catching some locals in Bantala. Let us be clear, there will be protest on the RG Kar issue. Let the guilty be hanged.”
The 1990 Bantala gangrape case
On 30th May 1990, three female officials related to the Health department were returning to Kolkata after completing a vaccination programme in Gosaba. At around 6:30 pm, their car was intercepted by a group of miscreants near the CPM party office in the Bantala area on the Eastern bypass road. But sensing fear for their lives, the driver of the car didn’t stop. However, the speeding car overturned as it attempted to flee. Soon, the car was surrounded by a large group of around 10-12 men.
The mob dragged them out of the car and set the vehicle on fire. They also started brutally assaulting the driver and crushed his genitals as he tried to protect the female passengers and safeguard their lives. The attackers, allegedly CPI-M workers, gang-raped the three medical officers, resulting in the death of one of them. The driver also died later.
Apart from the driver Avni Naiya, the three female officials in the car included Anita Dewan (Deputy District Extension Media Officer), Uma Ghosh (Senior Officer, West Bengal Health Department), and Renu Ghosh (UNICEF and WHO Representative, Delhi).
The mob dragged all three women officers to a nearby paddy field where they gangraped them. One of the female officers, Anita Dewan, died as a result of brutal attack. As per reports, the Police arrived over five hours later. They then shifted the naked bodies of the three women to an emergency department of the National Medical College. While all of them were believed to be brought dead, the doctors and officials realised that two of them were still alive after which the hospital initiated their treatment process.
As per reports, when Anita Dewan’s autopsy was being performed, the lady doctor on duty fainted at the spot when she discovered a one-foot-long metallic torch inside the deceased victim’s private parts.
The injured driver was taken to SSKM hospital where doctors revealed 43 injury marks on his body. The driver Avni Naiya died days later on 4th June at around 5:40 am.
Strikingly, following the incident in which the rapists were linked to the CPM, the then West Bengal Health Minister Prasanta Sur attempted to defend the culprits and said that the villagers had mistaken the women officers as child kidnappers and traffickers. Furthermore, the then Chief Minister Jyoti Basu said, “Such things keep happening!”
Later, the ex-Director of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), D Bandhopadhyay had claimed that Anita Dewan was the main target in the infamous Bantala gangrape case as she had collected evidence of misappropriation of funds by the CPM-led panchayats.
Bandopadhyay told Sumonto Banerjee that in villages, CPM-led panchayats were misusing funds for rural development sent by UNICEF. He added that Anita Dewan learned about this misappropriation of funds and when she collected necessary evidence from Gosaba, the communist goons attacked her when she was on her way back to Kolkata. He added that the goons torched the car in which all evidence was also burnt to ashes.
Following investigation, six culprits in this infamous 1990 case were awarded life imprisonment.
Now, at a time, when the horrific case of the trainee female doctor who was brutally raped and murdered in a medical college in Kolkata has evoked the haunting memories of the infamous Delhi’s Nirbhaya rape case of 2012 and has again galvanised the nation to demand accountability from the ruling TMC government, demand severe punishment for the culprits, the party has resorted to staging a protest for a 34-year-old case alleging that real Justice was not done even when culprits were served maximum punishment, according to the then laws, all while urging that politics should not be done in such heinous cases.
Notably, TMC is in power and the govt can order a probe if it thinks that the real culprits were not caught in the Bantala gangrape case.
