While urging people not to spread false information about the death of a teenager, West Bengal police said this morning that the post-mortem report shows poisoning as the cause of death.
According to police sources, no major injury marks on the 17-year-old's body indicated sexual assault. The incident, which resulted in the arrest of two people, sparked two days of violent protests and police action as locals claimed the victim was raped and murdered.
Playing politics with children's dead bodies
Soon after the post-mortem report was released, the West Bengal child rights organisation accused its central counterpart of playing politics "with the dead bodies of children" and "blatantly" violating laws in order to bring the state to justice.
"Doing politics with the dead bodies of children in West Bengal by the keepers of child rights! Shameful NCPCR!" the West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights (WBCPCR) tweeted.
The state child rights body further accused the NCPCR of violating the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) Act and entering West Bengal illegally.
"Ignoring the presence of the state commission for Protection of child rights, the ncpcr blatantly violates the cpcr act and enters WB illegally with the sole purpose of maligning the state. Shameful" it tweeted.
The National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) dispatched a fact-finding team to Kaliyaganj in West Bengal in response to public outrage over the alleged rape and murder of a teenager whose body was discovered on Friday morning.
A 20-year-old man was arrested on Saturday in connection with the alleged rape and murder of a teenage girl in West Bengal's North Dinajpur district that triggered violent protests, police said.
The 17-year-old girl, whose body was found in a canal in Kaliaganj police station area on Friday, knew the man, Superintendent of Police (SP) Md Sana Akhtar said, identifying him as the prime accused.
A case has been filed under IPC section 302 (murder) and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act based on the complaint filed by the girl's mother, he said.
Violence in Bengal over rape and murder of teenager
Violence rocked Kaliaganj, around 18 km from the Bangladesh border and 430 km north of Kolkata, as locals protested against the incident, prompting the police to use tear gas shells and charge batons to bring the situation under control, officials said.
Several shops and e-rickshaws were set on fire by the mob, which demanded the arrest of those behind the incident. Roads were also blocked and stones were hurled at the police, they said.
