New Delhi: The parents of the junior doctor from RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, who was allegedly raped and murdered on August 9, stated on Thursday that they were coerced into confessing on camera that they were not offered money by anyone from the Kolkata Police department.
This claim came a day after the grieving parents made a contradictory statement, following the release of a video by the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in which the parents could be heard saying that they weren’t offered any money by the police.
Initially, the parents had claimed on Wednesday that they were offered money by a senior IPS officer of the Kolkata Police.
“We were told that justice will be delayed if the police get angry. At that moment, we didn’t realize what the purpose of the video was. Maybe they anticipated that such things (police offering us money) may come out in the open in the future and the administration may face problems. That’s why they forced us to create the video to have an excuse ready,” the victim’s father told media persons on Thursday.
The previous day, the victim’s parents and relatives alleged that the police were in a hurry to cremate the body and even offered money. The police, however, didn’t impose any conditions while offering the money, the parents clarified.
“The IPS officer took out a bundle of notes in a packet and offered it to us saying that we may need it. No conditions were imposed though for accepting the money. I refused, saying that my daughter had undergone more pain than what the officer endured while preparing for the IPS exam,” the father said.
No officer in the Kolkata Police department was willing to comment on the statements given by the victim’s parents.
The allegation of cash offers was first made by Dr. Subarna Goswami, a representative of the Joint Forum of Doctors, who met the victim’s family two days after she was allegedly raped and murdered.
“We heard such allegations for the first time. The victim’s mother told us that the police had offered them money even while the dead body of their daughter was still lying in the bedroom and was yet to be cremated. It’s shocking,” Goswami had told the media on August 11.
The TMC government, however, blamed the opposition for the developments surrounding the victim’s parents.
“The victim’s parents are demanding speedy justice for their daughter. Everyone is standing beside them. The only thing which doesn’t have any place in this is politics. We humbly request that no political parties should try to force anything on the parents. There are several instances in which political parties have played vulture politics over dead bodies. This is not the place though,” Shashi Panja, state women and child development minister, told the media on Thursday.
A video was played in the TMC’s press conference in which the parents could be heard saying that they weren’t offered any money.
“Nobody offered us money. We haven’t said any such things to anyone. This is totally concocted, a lie,” the parents were heard saying in the video.
“A video has surfaced in which it is being alleged that money was offered to the parents by the police. A second video has surfaced in which the parents have refuted the allegations that they were offered any money by the police,” Panja said.
“We are not going to do any post-mortem of the statements made by the victim’s parents. We respect them. They have lost their daughter,” she added.
The victim’s parents, however, said, “Initially, we didn’t divulge it to anyone that we were offered money. Dr. Goswami first told the media. Then we were forced by the police to shoot the video and asked to say on camera that the police didn’t offer any money,” the victim’s father said.
The BJP condemned the developments and claimed that the West Bengal government was not equipped to be in power.
“The government is not able to deliver anymore. They are relying on videos made by the police and making statements and counter-statements. This proves they are not in a position to run the government anymore,” BJP Rajya Sabha member and party spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said.
