Bengal: E-rickshaw driver sentenced to life in jail for rape-murder of girl
Barasat (PTI): A POCSO court here on Wednesday sentenced an e-rickshaw driver to life imprisonment for the rape-murder of a girl who had hired his three-wheeler in Rajarhat New Town area near Kolkata.
The girl had left her house in a huff following a quarrel with her mother on February 6 evening and had later hired the e-rickshaw of Soumitra Roy at Jagatpur area to go back home at Gauranga Nagar, which is in the periphery of New Town in North 24 Parganas district.
The POCSO court at Barasat sentenced Roy to imprisonment till the end of his natural life.
The judge had on Monday declared Roy guilty under sections 103(1) (murder) and 65 (1) (committing rape on a girl under 16 years of age) under BNS.
Police arrested Roy on February 9, the prosecution lawyer said.
The prosecution proved the case against Roy on the basis of CCTV footage and other forensic reports during the trial, which was completed within seven months of the crime.
The incident had led to widespread protests, with the opposition parties questioning the law and order situation in West Bengal.
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'Rear-guard action': BJP over Mamata accepting sports minister's resignation after Messi event
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Tuesday alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's accepting Aroop Biswas' resignation as the state sports minister is nothing but a "rear-guard action" to douse public anger over the mismanagement of football icon Lionel Messi's event last week.
BJP co-in-charge for West Bengal Amit Malviya alleged that this is also an "open confession" that the Messi event fiasco was not accidental but a government-manufactured disaster, borne out of the poor governance of Banerjee, her ministers and the state bureaucracy.
Banerjee on Tuesday accepted Biswas' resignation as the sports minister in the wake of the controversy over the mismanagement of football icon Messi's event last week, a senior leader of the ruling TMC said.
Biswas, who had written to the chief minister seeking to be relieved of his responsibilities as sports minister, will continue as a cabinet minister, retaining charge of the power department.
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Reacting to the development, Malviya said in a post on X, "TMC Sports Minister Aroop Biswas resigns after the Messi fiasco and Mamata Banerjee accepts it in record time."
"Do not mistake this for accountability; this is nothing but a rear-guard action to douse public anger. anger! This is not 'Raj Dharma'," he added.
The BJP leader alleged that the incident was the outcome of "loot" of common people which is "so synonymous" with the TMC.
The incident was also the outcome of the "shameless VIP culture that TMC thrives on and deep-rooted cronyism promoted by Banerjee," he charged.
Malviya further alleged that Biswas' resignation exposes a "collective failure of Mamata Banerjee, her partisan bureaucracy, and her crony cabinet".
"This is a symbolic sacrifice, a political hoax, soon to be buried under layers of bureaucracy, with no justice, no accountability, and no remorse," the BJP leader said, adding, "No resignation will bring back the time lost, the money wasted, or the stolen chance for football lovers to witness Messi in Kolkata."
