Bengal gang rape victim's parents seek justice in Bihar

Victim's father saya he hopes the state government will provide justice to his dead daughter

The parents of the 16-year-old girl who was gang raped and set ablaze in West Bengal arrived in the Bihar capital in the hope of getting justice in their home state. Officials said they would meet Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Monday.

"We hope to get justice at least in my own state, Bihar, if not in West Bengal," the victim's father, a taxi driver, told reporters here. The family hails from Bihar's Samastipur, and had migrated to Madhyamgram in West Bengal's North 24-Parganas district in search of livelihood, he said.

"We have come here for justice, this is my soil," he said.

He said he hoped the Bihar government would take the case seriously and provide justice to his dead daughter.

The victim's mother, in a choked voice, said it was ironical that her daughter failed to get justice in West Bengal though a woman was the chief minister of the state.

Nitish Kumar had earlier announced an ex-gratia grant of Rs.1 lakh for the girl's family, and deputed senior Bihar Police officer G.S. Gangwar to meet her parents in Kolkata.

The girl was allegedly raped twice by a gang in October last year and set on fire Dec 23. She died of injuries Dec 31.

Her father has also approached the Calcutta High Court, demanding that the matter be probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Alleging that the West Bengal Police were forcing them to leave West Bengal, the family Tuesday met President Pranab Mukherjee, seeking death penalty for the culprits.