Woman’s burnt body found in West Bengal, rape suspected

MALDA: The charred body of a young woman was recovered from a mango orchard in Malda’s English Bazar on Thursday morning, raising fears of a rerun of the horrific Hyderabad gang rape and murder.
Villagers in Tipajani noticed the burnt body on Thursday morning and immediately informed English Bazaar police station. The locals, however, could not identify the woman as the body was badly burnt.The only piece of clothing on the body was a torn sleeve of the blue dress the woman was wearing when she was set on fire. Police sources said there were several injury marks on the body, including her private parts. The woman was possibly raped and strangled and her body burnt, they said.
“We will await the post-mortem report to ascertain whether it is a case of rape-murder. We are trying to identify the victim,” Malda SP Alok Rajoria said. The cops also believe the woman was killed elsewhere and the body brought to the mango orchard and burnt. Samples collected from the spot have been sent for forensic examination.
The spot where the body was discovered on Thursday morning is surrounded by dense foliage and remains dark and desolate even during the day. Villagers said the area is a den of criminal activity and a murder had taken place at the same spot about two years ago. They also told the cops that they had heard a woman’s screams from the orchard a few days ago but a thorough search of the spot with the help of security guards of a neighbouring girls’ school had yielded nothing. The investigators suspect the woman was killed sometime on Wednesday.
“The area is so dense and dark that a crime here even during the day will go unnoticed. People frequent this place only during the mango season. But now the situation is frightening,” said Manashi Dutta, headmistress of the local girls’ school. The villagers demanded that a police outpost be set up in the area.
As news of the brutal murder spread, various social organisations took to the streets demanding immediate arrest of the culprits. Members of a local Congress unit also held a candlelight procession in protest against the incident.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)