New Delhi: The TMC on Monday alleged a "massive cover-up" in the recent murder of five members of a family in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj district and claimed that the women victims were "raped" before being killed.
The party also slammed the NHRC for allegedly turning a blind eye to the atrocities perpetrated on women and people from backward communities in BJP-ruled states, claiming that the rights organisation was always prompt in sending teams to states helmed by opposition parties.
The five family members were killed in Khevrajpur village of Prayagraj district on Friday night, the police had said. A fact-finding team of the TMC visited the incident site on Sunday and spoke to the family members and villagers.
"Yesterday our fact-finding delegation went to Khevrajpur village in Prayagraj, UP to meet survivors of the mass murder of 5 people that happened 3 days ago."
"Shockingly, the family told us that bodies of 2 victims were found without clothes & with vaginal bleeding," TMC national spokesperson Saket Gokhale tweeted on Monday.
In a series of tweets, he alleged the police were told by the family members that they suspected two of the victims had been "raped before being beaten to death".
"Despite this, the police have NOT filed an FIR of rape. When questioned, the local SP said that the family hadn't given this in writing," he tweeted.
"One of these 2 victims was a 22-year-old woman who was paralysed. I had to teach the SP the basics of law that once a cognisable offense is disclosed (even orally), police are bound to register an FIR. Clearly, a massive cover-up being done in a rape & murder case," Gokhale added.
Describing the recent killing of five family members in UP's Prayagraj as "barbaric", TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh wondered if the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) would have maintained a "stoic silence" if something similar had happened in Bengal.
"Why is the National Human Rights Commission or the National Commission for Women silent on the brutal incident in Prayagraj? Is it because the Centre doesn't sanction their travel allowance or pay for their tickets when such incidents occur in the BJP-ruled states? "They are quick to send teams to Bengal or other opposition-ruled states," he said at a press meet in Kolkata.
Ghosh alleged that the statutory bodies were serving the "vested interests" of the ruling BJP at the Centre.
Reacting to TMC's comment, BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said the TMC should first provide answers about the Birbum killings and Hanshkhali rape case.
"Under the TMC regime, West Bengal has turned into a lawless state; the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh is much better than that of Bengal," he said.
Nine people died after their houses were set on fire in Bogtui village of Birbhum district in March.
In the Hanskhali area of Nadia district, a minor girl died after she was allegedly gang-raped. A local TMC leader’s son is one of the accused in the case.