Rape And Murder In Midnapore, West Bengal Falsely Linked To Post-Poll Violence

Soon after the West Bengal assembly elections result was declared on May 2, reports of violence from many districts of the state started surfacing. Opposition parties BJP, Congress, and Left-Front, accused Trinamool Congress of instigating post-poll violence. The violence took the lives of 20 people.

In the backdrop of the reports of violence, a post is going viral on social media claiming a 20-year-old girl was brutally raped and murdered in West Bengal because she was a BJP worker. While some of the posts allege TMC supporters of raping her amid the post-poll violence, many others have shared the post with a communal angle.

(The link of the posts are not shared to protect the identity of the girl.)

Saumitra Khan, BJP MP from Bishnupur, West Bengal, also tweeted her photos, hinting that she was raped because she was from BJP. He shared the image of the girl and people protesting for the justice of the girl with a caption, "Hathras had political juice. Not Medinipur? Where is the elite class of Kolkata, and where are your candles?".

Some claimed that she was raped and murdered by Muslims. A Twitter user shared the post with an image that has text saying a Jihadi gang-raped a BJP supporter from Midnapore.

Claim:

The woman was raped and murdered because of her affiliation with BJP.

Fact Check:

The Logical Indian did a fact-check and found that the claim is fake.

Many Bengali media organizations reported about the incident. According to a report published by Bangla News Live on May 5, 2021, a 20-year-old student of Debra College was gang-raped and murdered by three. The three accused were masons identified as Bikas Murmu (27), resident of Belda, Chotu Munda (35) and Tapasi, both residents of Jharkhand. An FIR against the crime has been lodged in Pingla police station in West Midnapore.

The Logical Indian spoke to Sankha Chatterjee, the Sub-Inspector of Pingla police station, who denied any political or communal angle to the story. He said that all three accused were masons who had no political influence, and he also denied any communal angle to the story. Chatterjee said, "The girl was raped in the house by two male masons, and a female mason was guiding them; all three of them are Hindus and from different places. Since the accused are from different places including a different state, hence it is illogical to say that they are politically influenced. Moreover, the family of the girl is also not associated with any political party. The same has also been clarified by the family members to the women commission who investigated the matter."

India Today contacted the victim's father, who said, "After lunch, she'd gone to clean the utensils as usual, but went missing since then. We started searching all around and finally found her body in an under-construction house next to ours. Three masons, including a woman, were working there, and we filed an FIR at the police station."

BoomLive contacted the victim's uncle, who denied any political affiliation of the girl. He said, "Social media posts alleging that my niece was a BJP worker are false. She had gone to the renovation site on May 3, when the woman told her there could be a snake inside. She was then dragged and raped by the two workers who were appointed for renovation. Her body was later found in the mud house in the backyard. There is no political angle to the incident."

Hence, the rape and murder of a 20-year-old in West Bengal's Midnapore is falsely given a political and communal angle.

If you have any news that you believe needs to be fact-checked, please email us at factcheck@thelogicalindian.com or WhatsApp at 6364000343.

Also Read: Old And Unrelated Videos & Images Shared As Post Poll Violence In West Bengal