Another Nirbhaya? Tribal Woman Gang-Raped In Bengal, Iron Rod Inserted Into Private Parts

Balurghat: A tribal mentally challenged woman was gang-raped in West Bengal's South Dinajpur district on Tuesday and tortured by her tormentors, who inserted an iron rod into her private parts before escaping. Two persons aged 50 years and 45 years have been arrested from Itahar in neighbouring North Dinajpur district in connection with the crime, the superintendent of police Prasun Bandopadhyay said. The 27-year-old has been operated upon and is in the critical care unit in Malda Medical College Hospital where doctors said she is responding to treatment. The two were produced before the Gangarampur subdivisional court during the day and remanded to police custody for 11 days. Police said the woman has no family as her parents are dead and she had been tortured and thrown out of her marital home in Bihar. She had gone to a fair at Patirajpur on the inter-district border on Saturday evening from where she was taken away by several persons and gang-raped in an agricultural field under a bridge. She was tortured and an iron road was inserted into her private parts and left there, the police said. Locals sighted her on Sunday evening and called the police, who rushed her to Raiganj district hospital where she was operated upon, police said. Sources in Raiganj hospital said as the woman was in a critical condition she was referred to the Malda Medical College Hospital. The police complaint was filed by one of her neighbours. Search is on for the others who were involved in the crime, Bandopadhyay said.