The body of a 55-year-old tribal woman was found at a village located under Kumarganj police station of South Dinajpur district on Thursday night.

The victim’s clothes were torn and there were bloodstains on her body. Her family members have alleged that she has been tormented and murdered. Police have registered a case and have detained a person.

Sources said the woman, who is a widow, stayed at a village that is under the Tapan block of the district. About a month ago, she came to her father’s place in Kumarganj. On Wednesday afternoon, she went out after lunch and didn’t return home. Her brother and other family members searched but could not trace her.

On Thursday night, some locals of a neighbouring village near the India-Bangladesh border spotted a body near a temple. They informed the police and in due course, she was identified.

“Her clothes were torn and there were blood marks. We suspect that she has been tortured and murdered by miscreants. The police should find out the truth,” said her brother, who had been to the spot.

BJP leaders, including the party’s state chief Sukanta Majumdar who is from the district, took up the issue.

“A tribal woman was raped and murdered at a village in South Dinajpur. Even after so many brutal rapes and murders, the chief minister can’t hear the cry of people for safety,” he said.
Child panel call.

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has summoned H.K. Dwivedi, the chief secretary of Bengal, and K. Jayaraman, the AGP and IGP (headquarters)-II, at its office in connection with the explosion of crude bombs at Gopalnagar under Kaliachak police station of Malda district on April 24 and had left five minor boys injured.