To
Ms. Mamata Banerjee,
Chief Minister of West Bengal
Nabana, Kolkata-
Date: 29/09/2015
Dear Ms. Mamata,
We are writing you this letter with utter despair and disgust towards the indifference which is being shown by the Bengal government in the case of a heinous crime committed in Shantineketan in August last year. May we remind you that justice remains due in the case of a female student of Darjeeling who was sexually harassed, stripped and blackmailed for two months by their seniors of the ‘esteemed’ University. After fighting against all odds, she with the help of her parents had managed to lodge a complaint against the perpetrators to seek justice from your administration. But even after going through the painful process of seeking justice for one long year, her cry for justice has fallen on deaf ears. The gross display of inaction and apathy by the administration and a sense of utter hopelessness of the delivery of justice has compelled her father to announce that he will commit suicide in full public view in 9 October, 2015. A man who has been compelled to take up a fight to bring the perpetrators of crime to justice, is now far from seeing the light of justice, fairness and equality. How could a crime so heinous, in a place so ‘revered’ go unnoticed? How could the state allow the balance of justice to be so heavily tilted against the girl and her quest for gender justice? The very declaration of this person to commit suicide is a hard slap on the ethos of gender justice and a disgusting reminiscent of failure of your government on this account.
This young girl who hails from Darjeeling was sexually assaulted and blackmailed by her seniors continuously for two months at VisvaBharati University in Shantiniketan, West Bengal. This grave incident came to light only after the girl’s father came to the University to file a complaint. The girl who had just recently joined Kala Bhawan as a first year student according to the complaint made by the father was forcefully stripped by three of her seniors who also took pictures and made videos of this heinous act. These men then used it to blackmail the girl and sexually molest her, repeatedly! They even brought one of their friends from outside the university to join them in this horrendous act.
