THE CALCUTTA High Court on Tuesday directed the state government to submit the case diary along with a status report pertaining to the investigation into the five recent rape cases that are reported in various districts of West Bengal this month.
Incidents of rape have been reported to have taken place at Netra and Namkhana villages in South 24 Parganas district, at Pingla in Paschim Medinipur district, at a village near Santiniketan in Birbhum district and at Mainaguri of Jalpaiguri district in West Bengal in the past few weeks. The direction from the court came while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by women advocates of the High Court seeking a probe by the CBI or any other independent agency into the rape cases.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice Prakasha Shrivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj today noted that most of the rape cases involved minors. Considering the nature of the incidents and the allegations levelled, the Bench directed Advocate General S N Mookherjee appearing on behalf of the state government to produce a report relating to the status of the investigation and also the case diary on the next date of hearing which is on April 26.
The court also ordered the authorities concerned to extend full protection to the victims and the witnesses in the rape cases in the meantime.
Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/kolkata/submit-case-diary-status-report-on-five-recent-rape-cases-calcutta-hc-tells-govt-7877429/
