Court wants special officer to probe Bengal gang rape

, Jan 17: Hearing a writ petition seeking a CBI probe into the alleged gang

and murder of a minor in West Bengal, the Calcutta High Court Friday expressed its desire to appoint a special officer to investigate the matter.

"The court of justice Dipankar Dutta has expressed its desire to appoint Damayanti Sen, deputy inspector general (Criminal Investigation Department) as a special officer and constitute a team of her own to investigate the case," petitioner counsel Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said.

"The court will issue a formal order Monday," Bhattacharya added.

Bhattacharya welcomed the decision, saying it would offer "better investigation than the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)".

Damayanti Sen, as the then joint commissioner of city police, had cracked the Park Street rape case where an Anglo-Indian woman was raped in the heart of the city in February 2012.

The petition was filed by the father of a 16-year-old girl, who was gang-raped twice in October last year, and later succumbed to her injuries after she was allegedly set on fire by attackers.

In the petition filed Jan 6, the girl's family has contended that the state police have not been properly investigating the matter besides threatening them to leave West Bengal.

Along with ordering to provide security to the family, the court earlier asked the state government to give its reply as to why a CBI probe be not ordered in the case.

The matter will come up for hearing next Monday.

IANS