The Calcutta High Court on Friday asked IPS officer Damayanti Sen to oversee the probe into the alleged gangrape of a 40-year-old woman in South 24 Parganas district on April 8.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Prakasha Shrivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj on Friday took on record the status report as well as the case diary pertaining to the investigation in the case.
“Having examined the case diary and considering the report in the form of the affidavit and also taking note of the allegations made and progress of investigation, we deem it proper that investigation in this case be carried out under the supervision of Damyanti Sen, Special Commissioner of Police,” the court observed.
The court, however, observed that in case the IPS officer has any difficulty in supervising the investigation, she will be at liberty to intimate the same to the court on the next date of hearing. It also directed the state government to submit a further status report on the next date of hearing which is scheduled to take place on May 2.
On April 12, the court had ordered Sen to oversee the probe into four recent rape cases in West Bengal.
A division bench of Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj said that past experiences have shown that Sen is capable of conducting an impartial inquiry into the rape incidents in Deganga, Matia (North 24 Parganas), English Bazar (Malda) and Bansdroni (Kolkata).
The court said investigations on these incidents will be done under the supervision of the IPS officer.
Currently posted as Kolkata Police special commissioner, the 1996-batch IPS officer was the city’s joint commissioner (crime) when the Park Street rape incident occurred in 2012.
Amid a growing outrage over the incident, Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee, who had taken over as the West Bengal CM for the first time in 2011, had sought to downplay the case, terming it as a “doctored incident” and a “chhotto ghotona (minor incident)”. Other Trinamool leaders had echoed similar views.
Damayanti, who was investigating the rape case, carried on with her probe into it despite coming under intense political pressure. She finally reported that the rape had taken place and went on to make the investigation public. She identified four accused in the case, all of whom were later arrested.
She was then transferred out of the city police in what was widely perceived as a fallout of her cracking the rape case.
Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/kolkata/damayanti-sen-to-oversee-probe-into-south-24-parganas-gangrape-case-hc-7883009/
