Another rape in Bengal, victim deaf and mute

Bankura (West Bengal) - In another incident of rape in West Bengal, a physically challenged woman was allegedly raped by a junior doctor in a government hospital in Bankura district, police said Wednesday.

“We have received a complaint that a deaf and mute woman was raped by a junior doctor of Bankura Sammilani Medical College. The victim was medical examined locally and we are taking her to Kolkata for another medical test,” Bankura Superintendent of Police Pranav Kumar said.

The clothes of the victim and the bedsheets have also been sent for examination.

The 19-year-old girl was found lying naked in an unconscious state in the medicine department of the hospital in Bankura, about 150 km from the state capital, where she was admitted Monday night for chest pain.

Following a complaint by the victim’s family, the hospital has constituted a three member committee to look into the allegations.

“We have received a complaint in this regard. It is learnt that the said doctor examined the patient without being accompanied either by female hospital staff or a female attendant of the patient. The probe team will look into the allegations,” hospital superintendent Panchanan Kundu said.

The incident comes at a time when the Mamata Banerjee-led government has been facing flak over rising rape cases in the state.

While an Anglo-Indian woman was raped in the heart of Kolkata-Park Street earlier this month, a ragpicker was Feb 24 allegedly gangraped and then murdered by a truck driver and his helper in North 24 Parganas’ Baranagar.

The allegations of rape continued when a woman commuter complained that she was raped by a gang of robbers after she tried to confront them during a robbery attempt in a suburban train near Katwa in Burdwan district.

In another incident, two people were lynched after they were caught raping a woman in East Midnapore Feb 26.