IN yet another gruesome attack, a woman was brutally gang-raped and murdered on August 17, 2014, in village Sunia, Kanthi in Purba Medinipur district of West Bengal. The state has been a victim of innumerable atrocities on women as well as internally displaced families due to the political vengeance resorted to by the Trinamool Congress. Thousands and thousands of families are forced to stay out of their homes, displaced due to their affiliation to the CPI(M). With the aid of the police and the administration, the TMC has been continuously targeting these families and unleashing terror. The latest has been the attack on an anganwadi worker, CPI(M) activist and wife of another CPI(M) activist Byomkesh Giri, who is a local committee member of the CPI(M). Giri has been forced to stay away from his home for the last three years. On the day of the incident, TMC activist Debashish Bhuniya (Lalu) has attacked the house of Byomkesh Giri and demanded 12 lakhs of rupees as fine from his wife. She expressed her inability to pay the fine and faced the wrath at 6 pm in the evening. She was stripped and paraded, raped, hit on the head, dragged to the village crossing, molested and then again dragged back to her home. Chandan Giri, brother of Byomkesh Giri was also attacked and dragged out from his home. They came back at night again to gang-rape her and hanged her from the bamboo-holding in the house. Then they cooked up the story of suicide and forced Chandan Giri’s wife, the victim’s sister-in-law to give the same in writing. The All India Democratic Women’s Association has organised protest marches in all the districts including Kolkata which saw mobilisation of a huge number of women in the state. The marches and rallies were also organised by the Left Front in all districts during the day. A PIL was also filed in Calcutta High Court. A compensation of 50 lakhs of rupees was also demanded in this case. AIDWA leaders visited the village Sunia the next day. AIDWA state secretary and president Minati Ghosh, Anju Kar along with Purba Medinipur district secretary and leaders, with Rekha Goswami, Ramala Chakraborty, Bharati Mutsuddi and others visited the house. As the AIDWA leaders approached the village they found a terrorised situation in the village. Not even a child was found speaking. Ninety year old father-in-law of the dead, Sudhir Giri and her wife were left at home, terrorised and completely and forcibly cut-off from the rest by the TMC goons. They did not even get any food during the last two days. The son could not even appear for Class 12 examination this year. AIDWA leaders visited the home and assured them of all help. They talked to the Additional SP and demanded justice. Later, on August 20, the AIDWA leaders in a press meet narrated the incident and expressed their feelings of concern from the information they gathered from the village. They found the post-mortem report to be a manipulated one as the doctor in charge of post mortem was suddenly changed on the very same day. The TMC has even cut the approach roads to enter the village so that the police cannot come to investigate. They also highlighted the fact that the son of the victim in a statement issued to the delegation stated that the body of the victim was badly bruised by manual attacks, which is clearly speaking of rape and molestation. The other important fact was that the body of the victim was hanging from a height of 5 ft, although her height was 5ft 2inches, as her son stated. Surely one cannot be hanged from a lower height. The motivation for suicide was also absent. This woman comrade was looking after two anganwadi centres, taking care of her cattle in the household, and also taking care of her elderly in-laws while her husband and son were displaced out of the village. She was a brave comrade who faced the situation when the TMC was issuing fatwas against the family. She had a fighting spirit and fought it out all alone. AIDWA leaders along with Kalyani Kamilya of West Bengal Mahila Samity also met Additional SP and in the press conference AIDWA alleged that Additional SP did not want to speak to them and stuck to the suicide story of the victim. The made up story of suicide was unaccepted to AIDWA and AIDWA clearly spoke of five demands: 1. The perpetrators must be punished through a just and fair enquiry. 2. The parents of Byomkesh Giri be given security by the police. 3. The displaced Byomkesh Giri and his son Debojyoti Giri should be facilitated to return to the village. 4. Democracy should be restored in the village. 5. The administration must see that the women in the village get back their dignity and security. Minati Ghosh, Anju Kar, Rama Biswas, Sibani Bhowmik, Dipti Chatterjee, Bharati Mutsuddi and Ishita Mukherjee were present at the press meet. The AIDWA will also meet the governor, National Commision for Women, and organise protests from the broader platform of women’s rights activists of Nari-Swadhikar-Samnyaya in the state very soon.