BREAKING| 'Local Influential Person Involved': Calcutta High Court Directs IPS Officer Parul Kush Jain To Oversee Probe Into Pingla Rape Case Of WB

The Calcutta High Court on Friday directed IPS officer Parul Kush Jain to oversee the probe in the Pingla rape case wherein an alleged attempt to rape was made on a differently-abled woman by a local panchayat member said to have affiliation to the Trinamool Congress at Pingla in West Midnapore district on April 11.

The IPS officer is currently posted as the Inspector General of Police (IGP) of the Traffic department of West Bengal.

It may be noted that the Court on Friday also directed IPS officer Damayanti Sen to oversee the probe in the Namkhana rape case wherein a 40-year-old woman was reportedly gang-raped on April 8 by five men in West Bengal's Namkhana village and an attempt had also been made to pour kerosene inside the victim's private parts and set her ablaze. IPS officer Damayanti Sen had earlier also been asked to supervise the investigation of 4 other recent rape cases in Deganga, Matia, Ingrejbazar and Banshdroni villages of West Bengal. 

The direction was issued while adjudicating upon a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition seeking a CBI probe into 5 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 West Midnapore district, at a village near Santiniketan in Birbhum district and at Mainaguri of Jalpaiguri district in West Bengal in the last few weeks.

The Court on the last date of hearing had directed the State government to produce a report relating to the status of investigation into the cases and also the case diary on the next date of hearing.

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 into the rape case.

Pursuant to the perusal of the case diary and the status report, the Court observed that the considering the nature of allegations made, the investigation into the rape case should be supervised by a senior lady police officer.  Furthermore, the Chief Justice during the proceedings also orally remarked, "We feel that a local influential person is involved" while underscoring the need for the investigation to be overseen by a senior IPS officer. 

During the proceedings, Advocate General S.N Mookherjee handed over a list containing the names of 5 such senior lady IPS officers pursuant to which the Court directed IPS officer Jain to supervise the probe. 

The petitioner apprised the Court that on April 14 at 10pm, the victim was allegedly sexually assaulted by one Abhijit Mondal who is a local TMC leader and that the local police authorities had registered a FIR on the next date. Furthermore, it was submitted that there is no possibility of a fair trial if the local police authorities continue to investigate the case. 

The petitioner further submitted that the victim had been receiving threats and that the victim had initially alleged that she had been subjected to rape but later changed her version to contend that she had been subjected to the offence of attempt to rape. 

On the other hand, Advocate General S.N Mookherjee averred that a police complaint had been registered on April 12 and that medico legal examination of the victim has also been conducted. It was further submitted that apparel of the victim has been seized and that statement of the accused under Section 164 of the CrPC has been registered. 

The Court was further apprised that medico-legal examination of the accused has also been conducted and that his apparel has also been seized. The Advocate General also submitted that the statements of 2 key witnesses have also been recorded under Section 164 of the CrPC. 

Pursuant to the rival submissions, the Bench directed the State government to submit a further status report on the next date of hearing which is slated to take place on May 2. 

Case Title: Pallabi Chatterjee and Ors v. State of West Bengal and other connected matters.

Case Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Cal) 138

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