New Delhi: A minor girl died after being allegedly gang-raped at a birthday party in West Bengal's Nadia district, police informed on Sunday.
The girl's family claimed that the main accused is the son of a Trinamool Congress panchayat member who has been arrested, news agency PTI reported.
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The deceased minor was a student of Class 9. Her parents lodged a complaint against the accused on Saturday, four days after the incident, officials said.
As per the complaint, the girl went to the residence of the accused on Monday afternoon last week to attend his birthday party, but she returned home unwell and died soon after.
"Our daughter was bleeding profusely and had severe abdominal pain after she came back from the party at the residence of the local TMC leader's son, and before we could take her to hospital, she died... From the sequence of events and after talking to the people present at the party, we are sure she was gang-raped by the accused and his friends," the girl's mother told reporters, as quoted by PTI.
The mother further said that a group of people forcibly took the minor's body for cremation even before her death certificate was issued.
Responding to the allegations, senior TMC leader and the state's Minister of Women and Child Development, Sashi Panja, said that the ruling party has zero tolerance for abuse of minors and women.
"There should not be any politics over the incident. Police will do everything possible to investigate and take further action," she said.
Meanwhile, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party called for a 12-hour bandh in Hanskhali in protest against the incident.
(With Agency Inputs)