No protection given to mentally challenged inmate rape victim in Kolkata: NCW

A NCW fact-finding team has said that the mentally challenged woman of a shelter home who was allegedly abducted and gang-raped in Kolkata has still not been given any protection, adding that it has found irregularities in the functioning of the facility. 

The team, which visited Kolkata and met the victim, said the woman has been shifted to an old age home run by the same proprietor.  It said the victim and her mother were admitted to the shelter home without proper documentation. The National Commission for Women (NCW) formed an inquiry panel to look into the case involving alleged abduction and gang rape of a 38-year-old woman who was an inmate of a home for mentally-challenged in Kolkata.

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The woman was abducted from a road and gang-raped after she went out at night breaking a lock. A group of men got her in a car by force from near the home at Panchasayar in south-eastern fringes of the city and raped her in the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday.

The NCW, taking suo motu cognisance in the matter, formed the committee headed by its member Chandramukhi Devi to investigate the case. "The victim's mother died mysteriously at the shelter home two days after the incident. Though the reason cited for her death was cardiac arrest butthe medical reports are awaited," the team, in the report, submitted after the visit said. 

It said the mentally challenged inmate of the shelter home who was allegedly abducted and gang raped in Kolkata has still not been given any protection and has been shifted to an old age home run by the same proprietor. "There seems to be many discrepancies in the complete system in West Bengal. There was no female police officer present at the police station when the victim's sister went to file the complaint," the report said.

It also said that there was no monitoring or audit of shelter homes run by private entities in the city. The NCW team, which met the victim and her family has asked the Joint Commissioner to give full protection and compensation to the victim as immediate relief."NCW also asked him to ensure that more patrolling cars are on the road in the city to ensure the safety and security of women in Kolkata," it said. 

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