Protests in Kolkata, India, have sprung up this week — and resulted in the death of an innocent man — over outrage of the rape and slaying of an 11-year-old girl. Photo by Piyal Adhikary/EPA
Violence erupted in India after a girl in eastern India was raped and slain, with a mob killing an innocent man and police killing the main suspect.
Hundreds of people protested for the government to provide greater protection for women in India, where rape has been a key subject in recent elections. The discovery of the 11- or 12-year-old girl’s body in a lake sparked the widespread outrage.
The girl’s body was found in the Indian state of West Bengal, near its capital of Kolkatta, and had been put in a sack in the lake after she was raped and killed, CNN and The Guardian reported.
During protests that erupted after the girl was found Sunday, people who believed that a 26-year-old man was responsible for the crime beat him to death.
“He too will get justice,” Suvendu Adhikari, chief minister in West Bengal, told reporters.
“Around 200 people responsible for damaging police vehicles and vandalizing railway lines have been identified,” Adhikari said.
Police also killed their main suspect in the crime during a shootout that started after he allegedly stole a gun from an officer and fired it as he tried to run away.
Adhikari said the “government and police are doing everything possible” to investigate the crime, despite protesters jamming the streets over what they said is a lack of law enforcement action on safety for women in India.
Family members have also accused police of not taking reports about their missing daughter seriously, which caused them to search for her themselves, though police have not acknowledged the claim.
