Ex-Jharkhand CM meets Birbhum gang-rape victim

Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Babulal Marandi today met the 20-year-old tribal woman who was gang-raped allegedly on the orders of a kangaroo court at Labhpur in Birbhum district last month.
Marandi, an MP of the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik), met the woman at a government home where she had been kept since her release from Suri hospital.
"I have come to know about the incident from newspaper reports. This incident stirred me and I thought I should come here. Here I met the woman. She was tortured but the way the incident was reported in media was not right," the former BJP leader said.

"It created a bad impression about the culture of Santhal society. But the thing was not so. There is no such punishment in our social system," he said.
It was being alleged that she was gang-raped on January 21 as she failed to arrange for a fine imposed on her by the kangaroo court as a punishment for falling in love with a man from a different community.
All the accused, including village head (known in the area as 'morol'), have been arrested.
Marandi also addressed a rally at Chowhatta where a new house for the victim was being constructed by the Birbhum district administration.

Though the Koderma MP was initially scheduled to go to the village where the alleged gang-rape took place, he did not go there.