[West Bengal Post Poll Violence] 60-year-old, 17-year-old move Supreme Court alleging rape by Trinamool Congress workers for supporting BJP

A 60-year-old woman and a 17-year-old minor girl from West Bengal have moved the Supreme Court alleging that they were raped by All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) workers for having supported the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections..The 60-year-old from Khejuri contended that though BJP had won from the local seat, TMC workers had barged into her residence on May 4 and gang raped her in front of her six-year-old grandson. .She further submitted that before leaving the house, all her cash and valuables were stolen. She alleged that even though her son-in-law tried to register a case in connection with the incident with the local police, he was unable to do so. It was only after the daughter-in-law persisted that an FIR was filed. The woman was later treated at Apollo Hospital, Kolkata, where medical examination confirmed the occurrence of rape. ."While the history is replete with gruesome instances where rape was employed as a strategy to terrorise enemy civilian population and to demoralise enemy troops, but never have such cruel crimes been committed against a woman citizen for her or her family's participation in the democratic process. Not merely the said crimes were facilitated by the inaction of the state authorities/police, but what was shocking is post crime humiliation that the rape survivors were subjected to, for their perceived audacity in reporting the crime," the application in Supreme Court filed through Advocate Arunima Dwivedi submitted.Similar horror was recounted by the 17-year-old who, in her plea, claimed that she was raped by four TMC workers for more than an hour as a "lesson" for supporting BJP.The incident occurred when she was returning home with her friends on May 9, she contended. The minor said that after being raped, she was left to die in a forest. The very next day, a TMC member SK Bahadur came to her house and threatened her family members against filing a complaint and also threatened to burn down her home, she contended. .The minor sought for a direction from the apex court for the trial in the case to be shifted out of West Bengal. "Such has been the conduct of local police/administration that instead of sympathising with her and family members, the police is pressuring her family saying their other daughter may face the same consequences," she said in her application filed through advocate Ravi Sharma. .Supreme Court seeks response from West Bengal govt on plea for CBI probe into killing of two BJP workers .Both these applications were filed in a pending case instituted by Biswajit Sarkar, the brother of deceased Bengal BJP worker Abhijit Sarkar, who was allegedly murdered when violence broke out after the Mamata Banerjee led All India Trinamool Congress secured a convincing victory over the BJP in the 2021 assembly elections.The plea by Biswajit Sarkar before the top court prayed for the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) by the Supreme Court so that the murder of Abhijit Sarkar and a Bengal BJP booth worker, Haran Adhikari, can be enquired into..A vacation bench of Justices Vineet Saran and BR Gavai had issued notice on that plea. A bunch of cases pertaining to post poll violence in Bengal is pending before a five-judge bench of Calcutta High Court as well. The High Court has been issuing directions to ensure that those displaced by such violence are able to return to their houses safely.