'Don't Play Politics With Dead Bodies': Bengal Guv Meets Family Of School Girl Killed In Siliguri

The accused kidnapped the class 11 student on her way home from school and took her to a rundown residence, where he bludgeoned her to death after she refused his effort to sexually abuse her.

West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose.

Source : Twitter | @Drsubhassarkar

Kanyashree cannot exist without Kanya's life, said West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose on Sunday after visiting the home of a slain schoolgirl in Siliguri's Matigara neighbourhood, news agency PTI reported. The accused kidnapped the class 11 Nepali-medium student on her way home from school and took her to a rundown residence, where he bludgeoned her to death with a stone when she refused his effort to sexually abuse her. On Monday evening, her corpse was discovered, and he was later arrested.

The governor paid a visit to the girl's home in Tumbajote, Matigara, accompanied by Darjeeling BJP MP Raju Bista, and conveyed condolences to the deceased family. Bose listened to their worries and promised them that he would assist them in any way he could.

Speaking with media, the governor said: "We are deeply anguished by the ghastly tragedy which took away the young angel from us in a very cruel manner. This should not happen to any girl child in West Bengal or elsewhere."

"In my first address in the West Bengal Assembly on February 8, I had declared that our CM will take steps to protect women... I had boasted about achievements of Kanyashree programme but there cannot be Kanyashree without kanya's (girl's) life. Unless society can protect the life of the girl child, what is the point in making tall claims?" he was quoted by PTI in its report.

Kanyashree is the Trinamool Congress government's flagship programme aimed at lowering school dropout rates and females' early marriage.

During his conversation with the girl's mother, he learned that all she wanted was for such an atrocity to never happen to another daughter in the country.

"She also told me that this place, maybe because of its proximity to the international borders, has become a den of crime and drug trafficking. What is required is action not alibi for inaction. There is no point in blaming each other. I am not here for blame-game. Let us not play politics with dead bodies or honour of girl child," he said.

"We need to have a multi-pronged approach to ensure that such ghastly incidents do not take place. This kind of criminality in the border areas has to stop. Chicken's Neck corridor is strategically important for us and we cannot allow criminality to increase here," Bose added.

In response to the murder, numerous political parties organised a 24-hour bandh in the Darjeeling hills on Saturday, disrupting daily life.

The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) in Siliguri ordered a 12-hour shutdown on Thursday, disrupting daily life.