The naked body of a girl, who tried to save her father from being beaten by locals for failing to pay for a rented tractor at a village meeting and then refusing to follow a kangaroo court’s order of licking spit, was found lying on railway tracks at Dhupguri in Jalpaiguri district.
After identifying the body, her father lodged an FIR against 13 persons at Dhupguri police station on Tuesday for “rape, murder and kidnapping” of his daughter, the police said.
Jalpaiguri superintendent of police Kunal Agarwal and additional superintendent of police James Kujur rushed to the spot on Tuesday night. Two persons have been detained in this connection and the body has been sent for postmortem, Kujur said.
Trouble began at the ‘Salishi Sabha’ (reconciliation meeting) convened at Dhupguri on Monday night when the farmer’s request for some more time to make the payment was turned down, the police said.
The local Trinamool Congress councillor of ward no 9 and her husband were present at the meeting, the police said.
The girl came out of her house pleading with the locals not to beat her father. She was then ordered by the woman councilor to lick spit, which she refused to do so. She then was taken from the meeting and was missing since then.
The councillor was not available for comment.
Student and youth wings of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, Students Federation of India and Democratic Youth Federation of India, are observing a students strike and ‘Black Day’ in Dhupguri block on Wednesday demanding punishment for the culprits. They also put up road blockades on NH 31. Bharatiya Janata Party activists staged a demonstration in front of Dhupguri Police Station on Tuesday, police said.
District Trinamool Congress president Sourav Chakrabarty said the police were investigating and there was no need to give “political colour” to it.
Image: The spot where the girl's body was found in Jalpaiguri district.
