Case filed against 8 ISKCON members over schoolgirl's death

A case has been filed against eight alleged ISKCON members over the death of schoolgirl Shipra Ghosh in Jashore.

Shipra’s brother, Papon Kumar Ghosh, filed the case on Sunday (September 27), alleging that she was strangled with a scarf.

Senior Judicial Magistrate Sanjoy Pal directed the officer-in-charge (OC) of Kotwali Police Station to submit a report to the court on whether any case had already been filed at the police station in connection with the incident.

The accused are Anupam Roy, also known as Apar Gobinda Das, 40, Sadhan Adhikari, 58, Ram Adhikari, 55, Arjun Das, Partha Das, Pabitra, Sanjoy and Raghu.

According to the complaint, the accused are members of ISKCON. Shipra was a Class 10 student at Bhaturia Secondary School. The complaint alleges that Anupam Roy, with the assistance of the others, had repeatedly harassed Shipra, sexually harassed her and made inappropriate proposals to her while she was travelling to and from school.

The complaint further alleges that on September 18 at around 6:30 PM, the accused entered Papon Kumar Ghosh’s house in Chanchra Rajbari with knives and other weapons while he and another family member were away.

They allegedly assaulted and sexually harassed Shipra. When her elderly mother came after hearing her screams, the accused allegedly assaulted her as well, seriously injuring her.

The complaint alleges that the accused then pushed Shipra’s mother out of the room, locked the door and continued beating Shipra. Anupam allegedly strangled her with a towel with assistance from the others. They then allegedly hung her from a bamboo beam using her scarf and left the house after locking the door from outside.

Later, Papon Kumar Ghosh and his brother returned home and found Shipra hanging inside the room. They took her to Jashore 250-bed General Hospital, where doctors declared her dead.

Police later visited the scene, prepared an inquest report and handed over the body to the family after an autopsy. Shipra’s brother subsequently filed the case.

The allegations made in the case have not yet been established in court.

-MT