South Parganas: A 14-year-old girl who had been missing in West Bengal's South Parganas district returned home on Monday. The girl was first abducted in February 2015 while she was returning home. She was released then but in May, the girl once again disappeared. The family alleged that she was kidnapped by the same group of men who had earlier abducted and gangraped her.
Members of the National Commission for Women also met the parents of the girl before she was found. Questioning women's safety in Bengal, NCW chairperson Lalitha Kumaramangalam on Monday said that crimes against women in West Bengal had "witnessed an increase", which was not so earlier, drawing sharp reaction from the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).
"As far as I know crimes against women were not so much earlier. Now it has increased," Kumarmangalam, who led a three-member NCW team to Enayatpur in Mograhat area of South 24-Parganas district where a 14-year-old girl had been missing.
Before visiting Mograhat, the team met the girl's parents in Kolkata. Kumarmangalam said that the parents of the missing girl Tuktuki Mondal appeared to be scared and so were the women living near her house at Enayatpur.
She alleged that some people were trying to paint the incident in political and religious colours, which, she felt, should not be done.
The Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) had questioned the police for failing to rescue the girl. Asked if she would meet BJP leaders who are camping at the local police station, she answered in the negative.
The NCW team met District Magistrate PB Salim and Superintendent of Police Sunil Chowdhury. TMC national spokesperson Derek O' Brien in a rejoinder said that women were safe in Bengal.
"Women in Bengal are very safe. Madam, before you make sweeping statements, may we ask you two questions: How safe are "you" in Delhi? Is this a political statement you are making?" O' Brien said.
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