West Bengal: Woman raped, buried in shelter home

Kolkata: In a shocking incident, a mentally ill woman has been allegedly raped and murdered inside a government-funded shelter home in West Bengal. The state CID has taken over the probe and is unearthing remains of more bodies of girls which have been illegally disposed. As many as 10 people have been arrested in the case.

The body of Gudiya, the 32-year-old mentally ill woman, was found buried inside the shelter in Hoogly. She was allegedly raped and murdered.

But what's more shocking is that Gudiya is not the only one. The police have also found the bodies of two other women, who had been missing since May, from Burdwan.

Four other women are missing from the shelter since May, presumably dead, as their bodies still haven\'t been found.

The inmates of the shelter home have now been moved elsewhere. CNN-IBN met the traumatised women, who had horrific story to recount.

"He was an outsider. He used to come, beat us up and harass us. We used to run away in fear," said Baby, one of the inmates of the shelter home.

Another inmate Panapitya Chowdhary recalled, "I used to be so scared at night. I used to think what if he does something to me. I used to lock the door from inside."

The man, who the inmates were so afraid of, is Shyamal Ghosh, the prime suspect in the Gudiya rape and murder, has been arrested by the police.

The women say they used to live worse than animals with no food, no clothes and no medical treatment.

"We would starve most of the times. They wouldn't even give us proper clothes. We were going through hell," said inmate Deepa Das.

Even after being rescued, they have had no relief. The women, who need treatment, have now been housed with destitute.

"It's very difficult to live with them. We can't communicate with them. They are defecating everywhere. Many of us have fallen ill," said Mala, a destitute.

When CNN-IBN confronted the authorities in connection with the case, they had the standard reply ready.

"We are making it mandatory for homes to install CCTV cameras and we will check the home regularly," said Sabitri Mitra, Minister, Department of Social Justice and Empowerment.

The home of horrors of the NGO was also funded by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The big question is why the authorities didn't do adequate follow ups to see where the funds are going and check what is happening to the defenceless mentally ill women who needed their protection most.

The horrors the inmates of the shelter home had to confront is slated to haunt them for a long time.

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