Calcutta High Court takes cognisance of rape victim's suicide

Taking cognisance of an alleged rape victim committing suicide in West Bengal's Malda district after being prevented from filing a complaint, the Calcutta High Court Friday directed the district administration to submit a report on the incident.

A division bench of Chief Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Joymalyo Bagchi took suo motu cognisance of the matter and directed the Malda district administration to submit a report within two weeks, said counsel Bikash Bhattacharya who brought the incident to the court's notice.

The 30-year-old housewife, who was allegedly raped Wednesday, set herself afire a day later after a kangaroo court allegedly prevented her husband from filing a police complaint saying the rapist was repentant and sought forgiveness.

The 'court' also humiliated the victim and cast aspersions on her character.

She succumbed to her injuries in the early hours of Thursday at the Malda Medical College and Hospital.

The incident which happened in Manikchak in the district, 346 km from Kolkata, comes months after a tribal woman was gangraped in Subalpur village in Birbhum district in January following orders of a kangaroo court.

The Supreme Court earlier took cognisance of the Birbhum incident and pulled up the Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress government in the state for its failure to protect the fundamental rights of the gangrape victim.