New Delhi [India], June 28 : BJP MP Sambit Patra slammed the West Bengal government on Saturday, over the alleged Kolkata gang-rape case and said Why is there so much 'insensitivity and cruelty towards women' despite the state having a female Chief Minister.
Addressing a press conference, Patra claimed that the entire "vicious cycle of gang-rape is state-sponsored."
"In a state where there is a woman Chief Minister, there should be sensitivity towards women, but why is there so much insensitivity and cruelty? The victim has issued a statement herself. If we read it carefully, one thing becomes clear, that this entire vicious cycle of gang-rape is somewhere state-sponsored," he said.
The BJP MP alleged that the heinous crime has a political angle to it, as the main accused, Manoj Mishra, has been the secretary of the student wing of the TMC.
"It is a brutal act inspired by a political point of view. Why am I saying this? Because it is related to a college union, the main accused is Manoj Mishra. Manoj Mishra himself has been the secretary of the student wing of TMC. He is a member of TMC," Sambit Patra said.
He targeted TMC leaders over the connection with the accused and also hit at Kalyan Banerjee for his 'friend rapes his friend' statement.
"The victim was beaten with a hockey stick. We see in horror movies how demons and monsters treat a woman. These TMC goons treated the victim the same way. They did not take her to the hospital... A TMC leader, Manojit Mishra, has done this. He can be seen with Abhishek Banerjee, Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya... How lightly Mamata Banerjee takes this brutal rape incident. Kalyan Banerjee, who is a famous MP, very close to Mamata Banerjee, said yesterday that if a classmate rapes his friend, what can we do about it?" the BJP MP said.
Furthermore, Sambit Patra stated that the BJP President JP Nadda has formed a committee to investigate the case.
"BJP President JP Nadda has formed a committee, and that committee will visit the spot and investigate. Its members are former Union Ministers Satpal Singh, Meenakshi Lekhi and MPs Biplab Deb and Manan Mishra. This committee will soon visit the spot and submit its report to the National President," he said.
Patra demanded that Mamata Banerjee apologise and resign as the Chief Minister.
"We are not asking for clarification from Mamata Banerjee. We are asking her to apologise and resign," Patra said.
Meanwhile, in a major development in the case, Kolkata Police on Saturday arrested the guard of the South Calcutta Law College, where a female student was allegedly gang-raped.
Kolkata police said, "Guard of the Law College, Pinaki Banerjee (55) has also been arrested in the case."
A female student was allegedly gang-raped inside the South Calcutta Law College in Kolkata's Kasba on Wednesday.
Earlier, the police had arrested three accused within 24 hours. The three accused, named as Monojit Mishra (31), Zaib Ahmed (19), and Pramit Mukhopadhyay (20), were former students or staff members of the same law college.
According to the police, the accused named in the FIR will be produced before the ACJM of Alipore, South 24 Parganas, with a prayer to remand them to Police Custody for a proper investigation into the case.