Adivasi youth shot dead while protecting his sisters from being raped

A 22-year-old Adivasi youth in Katwa, West Bengal was shot dead on 04.08.2013  when he tried to stop a gang of four from raping his two sisters, the macabre incident unfolding in front of two children of one of the women.

As the youth held on to two of the assailants, the sisters pleaded that he be spared but one of the gang members shot him in the chest.

The early morning crime is a chilling reminder of the killing of a schoolboy on a Barasat street in February 2011. Class X student Rajib Das was stabbed to death by a group that pursued his sister, sprinkled alcohol on her and pounced on the boy when he resisted.

The Katwa sisters, both separated from their husbands and living with their parents, were sleeping in one corner of their shanty with the elder sister’s five-year-old son and three-year-old daughter while the brother was sleeping in another corner.

“I was jolted out of sleep by a tug at my sari. I saw a man pointing a revolver at me. Another man tried to drag me out of the house. There were two others in the group, all with their faces covered. I cried for help and my elder sister and brother woke up,” said the 18-year-old girl, the youngest of the three siblings.

“One of the gang members tried to drag out my elder sister too. My brother lunged at the assailants, who threatened to shoot him dead. But he did not let go of them. He threw himself at two of the assailants and held on to their legs. The attackers managed to free themselves. My brother again caught them by their legs. My sister and I pleaded with them not to harm him but one of the attackers shot him in the chest with his revolver,” the girl said. The youth died on the spot.

“Before fleeing, the attackers fired another shot outside the house, which hit a goat,” the woman added.

The children of the 20-year-old elder sister, who witnessed the entire incident, started crying. By the time the parents of the victim, who live in an adjoining shanty, came out, the assailants had fled.

The sisters, their parents and the children ran out of the house, crossed the railway tracks nearby and hid behind a tree for about four hours till 8am.

The sisters lodged a complaint at Katwa police station. Charges of murder and attempt to rape have been brought against the four unidentified assailants. They have also been booked under provisions of the arms act.

According to residents, there are three more houses in the neighbourhood where the victim’s shanty is located. The houses are within 80 to 100 metres of each other.

A farm labourer who lives in the locality said: “I heard a gunshot around 4am. I did not dare to venture out immediately. After some time, two of my neighbours and I walked to the house from where the sound of the gunshot had come and saw the youth lying in a pool of blood. There was no one else in the house.”

The men informed some of those living on the other side of the railway tracks, one of whom called the police.

The residents accused the police of arriving late. The personnel at Katwa police station, 15km from the crime spot, said they went immediately after receiving the call around 9am.

A sniffer dog was brought from Burdwan town but it could not find any clue.

“We have received the sisters’ complaint and an investigation has been started,” said S.M.H. Meerza, the Burdwan superintendent of police.

Local Congress MLA Rabindranath Chatterjee said: “The police should have arrived much earlier. We demand that the culprits be arrested as soon as possible.”