The Left Front organised a protest march in Kolkata on January 1 and has decided to hold protest rallies in various parts of the state against the gangrape of a 16 year old girl and her subsequent death.
The family of the girl alleged that they were threatened by the city police to leave the state with the body of their daughter. The parents along with Left leaders, met the West Bengal Governor M.K. Narayanan. The father of the girl is a taxi driver, hailing from Bihar and is associated with the CITU.
The family and the CITU decided to keep the body in Peace Haven mortuary and take out a procession from there to the crematorium. The police forcefully took the body, but could not cremate it as the death certificate was with the father. CPI(M) State Secretariat member Rabin Deb said that as the police went to the crematorium,”…we too rushed to the crematorium and protested forcing the police to retreat”. CPI(M) State Secretary and West Bengal Left Front Chairman Biman Bose wondered, “Under whose instructions the police has been so active? We want the guilty to be punished .We will organise protest rallies and programmes throughout the state.”