The Mamata Banerjee government has provided a job to the mother of a minor girl who was allegedly raped and murdered in the Kaliaganj block of North Dinajpur district last year.

On Tuesday, Krishna Kalyani, the Trinamool MLA of Raiganj, handed over the appointment letter to her mother. She has been given an attendant’s job in the state land and land reforms department with a consolidated monthly pay of ₹10,000.

On April 20, 2023, the minor girl was found dead near her village. Her family alleged that she had been raped and murdered. From April 21, the villagers resorted to protests and soon, BJP leaders and workers joined them.

The protests led to clashes between police and the villagers and the Kaliaganj police station was torched on April 25 during a rally organised in protest against the incident.

On the same day, a youth was gunned down by the police during a raid conducted to round up those who had perpetrated violence in Kaliaganj.

“The BJP leaders initially stood with us but eventually, we understood that they simply tried to earn political dividends by using my daughter’s body. After the Lok Sabha elections, no BJP leader contacted us,” said the girl’s mother.

Sources said the family contacted Kalyani and told the MLA that they were in distress.

After the incident, they had sought a CBI probe. Calcutta High Court, however, instructed the formation of a special investigation team. The case is pending in the Supreme Court now.

The Raiganj MLA was critical of the BJP. “The BJP has simply done politics with the family. After their political aims were fulfilled, they stopped communicating with the family,” said Kalyani.

District BJP leaders, however, accused the TMC of misleading the victim’s family.

“It is unfortunate that a marginal family secured a job only after losing their daughter. The family still wants a CBI probe and we support them. Trinamool is misleading them,” said Basudeb Sarkar, the BJP president of North Dinajpur.