New Delhi, 19 January 2005
Taking suo-motu cognizance of a news item captioned "Disabled Girl raped at home" which appeared in a national daily dated 17 December 2004, the National Human Rights Commission has asked the Director General of Police, Kolkata, West Bengal to look into the allegation contained in the news story and submit comments within two weeks.
The newspaper had published a news story on 17 December 2004 wherein it was reported that a 19-year-old visually impaired girl had been allegedly raped at her home by two miscreants in Dhorandaha village, Karimpur, Nadia, West Bengal in the absence of her parents. The report further stated that both the miscreants allegedly have political clout and a bad reputation in the locality as musclemen. It also stated that the miscreants have threatened the victim not to report the incident to the police. The mother of the victim was initially scared to file a complaint but at the instance of village elders she lodged an FIR, it said. Earlier the duo had allegedly raped women but no complaint was lodged against them.
The Commission observed that if the contents of the report are true, it raises serious issues of violation of the right to dignity and human rights of women.
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