Ranaghat/Kolkata: With no arrests made even after two days of the gangrape of a septuagenarian nun at Ranaghat, protests erupted at several places with some demonstrators blocking Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's convoy for nearly an hour when she went to meet the victim.
Two more persons were detained today to take the total of detainees to 10 since yesterday, police said. Banerjee, whose convoy was blocked on NH 34 by the protesters demanding immediate arrest and punishment of the culprits, claimed that the protest was a conspiracy hatched by CPI-M and BJP to stop police from taking action against the real culprits.
Archbishop of Kolkata Thomas D'Souza expressed his unhappiness over the ongoing probe into the incident. The Archbishop, who participated in a rally in the city from Allen Park in Park Street to show solidarity and sympathy with the victim, said, “The detention of eight persons was a very bright start. But we are not happy yet because not much headway has been made in this regard.”
“It's good to see that they are working, but 48 hours have passed, so where are the arrests?” the Archbishop wondered. Banerjee, who arrived at Ranaghat to meet the victim at the hospital and also officials of the Church and the school, where the incident took place, faced sudden protest by students and local people who surrounded her convoy and squatted on the road.
As the protesters refused to let her convoy pass through the NH 34, an angry Banerjee came out of the car and said, “The unfortunate incident is being maligned by using political colour in it. This is a conspiracy and a handiwork of CPI(M) and BJP combine to stop the administration from arresting the real culprits. In the name of rally and protest, some political people have made inroads here. They don't want real culprits to be arrested. Missionaries are for peace. Don't malign the movement of the missionaries.”
“I am waiting here, let me see what guts CPI(M) and BJP have, I challenge them. Let me see how long they can stop me by gheraoing my convoy. I am not afraid of them. I challenge the CPI(M) and BJP. I have come up through mass movements. Let them come if they want to kill me. I always want the rapists to be hanged. Those who are culprits have committed a wrong and we will take strongest action against them,” she said.
