"Women Attacked, Disrobed, On Bengal's Streets": Governor Turns The Screw

Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose has expressed displeasure with the state police's handling of the rape-murder of a young doctor at Kolkata's RG Kar Medical College. He has also called an emergency meeting with Vice Chancellors of the state's universities and will also hold a meeting with protesters tomorrow.

"The Governor has expressed his displeasure on complicity and alleged connivance of the police in matters of crime, particularly campus crimes," read a statement from the Governor's House.

Such a crime "shames the whole of Bengal, shames India.. and humanity," he said in a video message.

Bengal, he said, "has to see reason".

"We have seen incidents women being attacked on street, disrobing... Flogging on the street... public flogging. All this is repeatedly happening on the streets of Bengal," added the Governor, who has been at loggerheads with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her government in the past.

"Is this the place where Rabindranath Tagore said, 'Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high'," he said, quoting a poem by the Nobel laureate.

Effective protection should be given to girl students, women staff and members of non-teaching staff immediately, he said.

The statement from his office said the Governor "deplores the absolute failure of the Kolkata Police in handling the case in a just and fair manner".  It also said that he has met many delegations over the matter and will be having discussions with the protestors tomorrow.

Though the case has been handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation, the protests in Bengal are continuing. It has cascaded over the state's borders and spread across the country, with even small towns out to show solidarity.