Zeenews Bureau
Kolkata: An Anglo-Indian woman who was allegedly raped while returning from a night club on Park Street in central Kolkata used social networking website Facebook to trace down her assailants, but had to face noncooperation from the police.
The woman claims, she was offered a lift by four men she befriended at a nightclub on February 5, but as soon as the car started rolling one of them raped her at gunpoint.
She took to Facebook to try and indentified her assailants.
"I thought everyone uses Facebook. I looked for their names and their image appeared. I was lucky. I can never forget that face in my life," the victim told a news channel.
Armed with printouts of the pictures, she approached the police on February nine. She alleged that instead of taking up her case, the police mocked her.
How is it possible in a moving car? The cops asked her, she alleged. One of the persons who had accompanied the victim to the police station claimed that the senior officer looked at her (victim) and told his junior: “Today is February 14, let's go to tantra (nightclub) and have beer."
Later, under pressure, an FIR was filed and she was sent for a medical examination, the result of which is awaited.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Damayanti Sen said that the victim, who was in a state of trauma, had gone to the police on February nine, four days after the alleged crime.
Asked about the woman's complaint of misbehaviour by the police at the police station, Sen said, "If there is a complaint against any police officer, it will be looked into and action taken."
Sen said as per court order, the victim was taken for medical examination on February 10 and hospital authorities called for a medico-legal test by forensic experts, which caused a delay.
As per reports, the police have found several discrepancies in her statement. Also, one of the men she identified on Facebook is said to be from Canada.
First Published: Thursday, February 16, 2012, 10:30