A middle-aged woman was allegedly raped by a gang of three in a dark and deserted corner of the Maidan late on Wednesday.
A man in his 30s was arrested but two others managed to flee the spot close to where the Book Fair used to be held. The woman, police said, was a vagrant from the Dharamtala area.
Mohsin Murshed and his accomplices have been charged with rape on the basis of the woman’s statement. Preliminary medical examination by doctors revealed no sign of rape, SSKM Hospital officials said, but further tests would be conducted.
Around 9.30pm on Wednesday, a traffic sergeant at the Park Street crossing was approached by a man who said: “I saw some men assaulting a woman in a cluster of trees there.” The witness pointed towards the southern corner of the Territorial Army grounds, on the Outram Road approach from Park Street.
The sergeant alerted the Maidan police station and two officers on night patrol were rushed to the spot.
The police said on Thursday that the woman claimed to be from Bangladesh and was brought to the city by her mother to consult a doctor some three years ago. Her mother had “disappeared” and the woman would eke out a living on the pavements of the Dharamtala area.
With the woman “speaking incoherently”, the police have sent her to Pavlov hospital in the Tangra area pending further investigation.
Mohsin Murshed has told the police that he was a temporary worker in an embroidery unit on Samshul Huda Road. The resident of Khanakul in Hooghly would often be jobless and spend his evenings on the Maidan.
He had met Rajiv, a 30-year-old, on the Maidan and the unemployed man from Bakrahat in South 24-Parganas was Murshed’s partner in crime on Wednesday night, the police said. The identity of the third accused was unclear.
“We have registered a case of rape against the three men on the basis of the woman’s statements,” said joint commissioner of police Pradip Chatterjee.
The assault after dark has once again turned the security spotlight on the Maidan. In May 2004 a woman in her mid-20s was strangled to death on the greens. In February 2008, an Irish woman was molested by a gang of four on the Maidan.
“Vagrants move around on the Maidan and the number rises with the rise in Celsius levels,” said a police officer.
Why must the Maidan be shrouded in darkness? The police pointed a finger at the army and the custodians of the green returned the compliment.
“The army is reluctant to illuminate the Maidan as it would then draw more people in the evening,” said a police officer. “Law and order is the subject of the police. If they come to us with a proposal to illuminate the Maidan we will give it a thought,” said group captain R.K. Das, the CPRO (east) of the ministry of defence.
Mohsin Murshed and his accomplices have been charged with rape on the basis of the woman’s statement. Preliminary medical examination by doctors revealed no sign of rape, SSKM Hospital officials said, but further tests would be conducted.
Around 9.30pm on Wednesday, a traffic sergeant at the Park Street crossing was approached by a man who said: “I saw some men assaulting a woman in a cluster of trees there.” The witness pointed towards the southern corner of the Territorial Army grounds, on the Outram Road approach from Park Street.
The sergeant alerted the Maidan police station and two officers on night patrol were rushed to the spot.
The police said on Thursday that the woman claimed to be from Bangladesh and was brought to the city by her mother to consult a doctor some three years ago. Her mother had “disappeared” and the woman would eke out a living on the pavements of the Dharamtala area.
With the woman “speaking incoherently”, the police have sent her to Pavlov hospital in the Tangra area pending further investigation.
Mohsin Murshed has told the police that he was a temporary worker in an embroidery unit on Samshul Huda Road. The resident of Khanakul in Hooghly would often be jobless and spend his evenings on the Maidan.
He had met Rajiv, a 30-year-old, on the Maidan and the unemployed man from Bakrahat in South 24-Parganas was Murshed’s partner in crime on Wednesday night, the police said. The identity of the third accused was unclear.
“We have registered a case of rape against the three men on the basis of the woman’s statements,” said joint commissioner of police Pradip Chatterjee.
The assault after dark has once again turned the security spotlight on the Maidan. In May 2004 a woman in her mid-20s was strangled to death on the greens. In February 2008, an Irish woman was molested by a gang of four on the Maidan.
“Vagrants move around on the Maidan and the number rises with the rise in Celsius levels,” said a police officer.
Why must the Maidan be shrouded in darkness? The police pointed a finger at the army and the custodians of the green returned the compliment.
“The army is reluctant to illuminate the Maidan as it would then draw more people in the evening,” said a police officer. “Law and order is the subject of the police. If they come to us with a proposal to illuminate the Maidan we will give it a thought,” said group captain R.K. Das, the CPRO (east) of the ministry of defence.
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