ON February 7, 2014, the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) submitted a memorandum to Ms Mamta Sharma, chairperson of the National Commission for Women (NCW), at New Delhi. The aim was to bring to the notice of the NCW a recent incident of gangrape at Amta in Howrah district in West Bengal. In this case, a 27 years old housewife and her mother-in-law, aged 43 years, were brutally gangraped on February 4, 2014. They were admitted in the Ulberia hospital with severe injuries.

WEST Bengal witnessed one of the most horrific instances of rape being used as a political tool in Amta in Howrah, West Bengal. In order to take revenge for the political defeat in the panchayat elections, TMC goons broke open the door of the house of their opponent and gang raped 27 year old housewife along with one of her 43-year old in-law. The incident took place on 4th February 2014 at about 10.30pm, in Muktirchak gram in Howrah under Amta police station limits. Both the housewife and her in-law are admitted in Uluberia hospital with serious injuries.

HISTORY is cruel; in its own way, it squares up the truth. Seven years back, a rural tract in West Bengal – Nandigram – shot to prominence. It resonated across the country. The cyber world took it beyond the national boundary and drew international attention. Political observers attributed electoral nemesis of the three decade electoral sway of the Left to the developments in Nandigram. Nandigram was seen as the ‘diabolical’ anti-peasant face of the Left in Bengal. And overall, it contributed to undermine the credibility of the Indian Left.