Also on Wednesday, the Calcutta High Court reserved its order in a petition seeking the implementation of the Witness Protection Scheme, 2018 in the matter.
Kolkata: A five-member fact-finding team constituted by BJP chief J P Nadda on April 13 after the April 5 gang rape and murder of a minor girl at Hanskhali, Nadia in West Bengal, on Wednesday submitted its report to Nadda at his residence in Delhi.
Committee member Sreerupa Chaudhury said, “We have submitted a preliminary report to BJP national president JP Nadda about whatever we observed on the ground. We will submit a larger comprehensive report and submit it to him as soon as possible.”
Also on Wednesday, the Calcutta High Court reserved its order in a petition seeking the implementation of the Witness Protection Scheme, 2018 in the matter. The counsel appearing for the petitioner told the court that the family members of the victim and other witnesses are “constantly being threatened as a result of adequate protection must be extended to them”.
Meanwhile, Advocate General S N Mookherjee said that the 2018 scheme has not been implemented in the State of West Bengal and many other states too.
However, he also said that as per a Supreme Court decision in the Mahendra Chawla vs Union of India case, “the holistic regime of witness protection should be considered as law under Article 141 of the Constitution till a suitable law is framed”.
On April 12, the High Court had transferred the investigation into the Hanskhali gangrape and murder case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and had asked the agency to file a progress report on the investigation in the next date of hearing, May 2.
On April 5, a 14-year-old girl died after she was allegedly gangraped by the son of a panchayat member, who is known for his allegiance to the ruling Trinamool Congress party, and others. Later, while speaking at an event, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had cast her doubt on the case and had sought to know if she was raped or was she already pregnant.
Banerjee had also said that the girl was allegedly in a relationship with the accused. She further accuses the Opposition and the media of giving the incident a political twist. While Brajgopal Goala (21), the son of Samar Goala, a member of the local gram panchayat, was already arrested, two others were arrested subsequently.
