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Condemning the incident of alleged rape and murder of a minor girl in West Bengal's Siliguri, Governor CV Ananda Bose on Sunday took a dig at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's flagship girl-child empowerment scheme 'Kanyashree'.
Speaking at a press conference, the West Bengal Governor said, "I boasted about the 'Kanyashree' programme. There cannot be Kanyashree without 'Kanya's' (girl) life. Unless a society can protect the life of a girl child, what is the point of making tall claims?" Kanyashree Prakalpa seeks to improve the status and well-being of girls, specifically those from socio-economically disadvantaged families through Conditional Cash Transfers, the Kanyashree website states. Condemning the incident, the Governor said, "We lost a young angel from us in a very cruel manner. This should not happen to any girl child in Bengal or anywhere. I feel guilty." The Governor and the Mamata Banerjee government have been at loggerheads with each other over a host of issues, especially after the state Panchayat polls which were allegedly marred by violence. However, the Governor appealed on Sunday not to "play politics" over this specific issue. "Let us not play politics with a dead body, with the honour of the girl child...The government should take the lead, civil society should support the government," he said. The body of a minor girl was found by local inhabitants in the forested area in Matigara last week. A brick, which was apparently used to kill the minor by smashing her head, was also recovered from the location, police said. The accused was arrested from his house on Monday night and has been taken into police custody for two weeks, police said. The minor girl was murdered at an abandoned place in Siliguri's Matigara area on Monday, as she was returning home from her school. The person who allegedly attempted to assault the minor girl sexually and then killed her has been arrested, DCP Abhishek Gupta of Siliguri Metropolitan Police said. (ANI)
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