Bengal court asks cops to escort abuse ‘victim’ to exam

MIDNAPORE: The court instructed the police to take the girl to the centre and also directed that if she got late she should be given extra time. But we came to know that she made it on time... RANJIT GANGULY, Govt pleader

A judge of Suri court in Bengal’s Birbhum district on Friday directed the police to escort a 17-year-old student to an exam centre about 50 km away where she was supposed to write the class 10 Bengal board test and deferred the date of hearing in a case where she is the victim and main witness.

The girl, a resident of Joykrishnapur village of Rampurhat, delivered a child in 2016 following an affair with a local youth who refused to take responsibility.The girl was 15 years of age (and a student of class 9) when she became pregnant in 2015. Her boyfriend was 17 years old then.

A total of four persons were named as accused and they subsequently got bail.

On Friday, the girl came to the court to depose as the main witness in the case. She was accompanied by her son.

When she came to the court in the morning the judge learnt that she was supposed to write her test that would start at 12 noon. The history test was held on Friday.

Following the instructions of Diptendranath Mitra, the judge of the POCSO (Protection of Children Against Sexual Offences) court, officers from Suri police station hired a car and took the girl to the exam centre in Rampurhat, about 50 km from Suri, the district’s administrative headquarters.

“The court instructed the police to take the girl to the centre and also directed that if she got late she should be given extra time. But we came to know that she made it on time and took the test,” said Ranjit Ganguly, the government pleader at Suri court. “The court will later decide the date for her deposition,” said Ganguly.