KOLKATA: Former Trinamool MP Kunal Ghosh on Sunday reached out to the R G Kar rape-murder victim’s father, promising course correction from the party based on inputs from the bereaved family.
The father, Ghosh later said, told him that they only wanted the culprits to be caught and wanted Bengal’s governing party to focus more on speeding up the “slow-paced CBI probe.” The father, however, refused to speak on his discussions with Ghosh.
Ghosh’s interaction with the victim’s family comes a day before Bengal assembly convenes for a two-day special session to pass legislation making rapes punishable with death in the state. The bill — likely to be announced by party chief and chief minister Mamata Banerjee — would be named in tribute to the victim, govt sources said. Ghosh’s conversation with the family also follows an hour-long meeting on Friday between the chief minister and party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
Ghosh said he had told the victim’s father that he should alert the party immediately if there was any “confusion” regarding either his, or his party colleagues’, statements. “There could be points we might have missed. There could be statements made, through which we may have hurt them. I’ve asked him to point it out immediately to me, and necessary course-corrections would be done,” Ghosh said.
Ghosh also tried to explain his public position, saying he “had to be present” in many political debates over the incident in the past few weeks, and that some his statements, “made unwittingly” in that capacity, may have hurt the victim’s family members.” He explained that he was “trying my best to explain what the administration has been doing and steps being taken to nab the culprits.”
“The doctor’s tragic end has been an irreparable loss and we want to end the mystery over the culprits,” Ghosh said, adding, “Her father wanted us to focus more on the investigation. He is apprehensive of the investigation getting stalled.”
The victim’s father did not wish to speak on his discussions with Ghosh, but he commented on the proposed anti-rape bill. “Stringent laws are always a deterrent to such crimes. But primarily the administration will have to ensure transparency, so that the criminal is arrested. Unless we are able to catch the criminal, a stringent act is of no use,” he said.
TOI has earlier reported that the stringent anti-rape bill proposes to treat all incidents of rape as murder, to be punished with death or life imprisonment. It will also call for a time-bound trial and an enhanced compensation or fine. In cases of rape-murder, the bill proposes only death penalty and a hefty fine — to be collected from the perpetrator’s family.
According to the session brief released on Sunday, the first day of the special session will commence at 2pm and conclude after an obituary reference to former CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who breathed his last on Aug 8. A special reference is likely to be made to the RG Kar victim. Speaker Biman Banerjee said special references, if any, would be known only after the session commences.
