Bengal rights panel seeks report on nun's gang rape

Kolkata, March 17 (IANS) Taking cognizance of the gang rape of a septuagenarian nun in Nadia district, the West Bengal Human Rights Commission has sought a report from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), an official said on Tuesday.

In an incident that has caused revulsion in the state and beyond, the nun was brutalised by a gang of bandits inside the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Ranaghat, some 80 km from Kolkata on Saturday.

"The commission has taken cognizance and directed the Additional Director General (Criminal Investigation Department) Rajeev Kumar and Nadia Superintendent of Police Arnab Ghosh to submit a report at the earliest," a commission official told IANS.

"After studying the report, the commission will make its recommendations," added the official.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, too, has expressed concern over the Ranaghat gang rape as well as the vandalisation of a church in Haryana, and sought a report on these incidents.

"PMO has asked for immediate report on facts and action taken regarding the incidents in Haryana and West Bengal," the PMO tweeted on Tuesday.

While the police have detained 10 people, their failure to arrests the culprits yet has created a furore among Ranaghat locals, who on Monday blocked the convoy of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. She had gone there to meet the survivor, now admitted to a hospital.

The demonstrators demanded a CBI probe into the matter, drawing angry reactions from Banerjee. She blamed the opposition, including the BJP, for politicising the incident.