The following report includes mentions of sexual assault.Kolkata: On the night of October 25, a 17-year-old girl went out upon receiving a phone call from a distant relative for a cultural event in Gaighata, North 24 Parganas, West Bengal. Upon arriving at the location, the alleged relative took her to a side of the stage and raped her. She was found murdered the next morning. The accused, Prahlad Das, was subsequently arrested. However, while re-constructing the scenario on Tuesday (October 27), he was killed in an encounter with the West Bengal Police.According to the police, Das snatched a revolver from an officer and injured them. So, in self-defence they “had to shoot him”. Hours later, in Murshidabad, another encounter was reported. A man named Samaun Sheikh, a murder-accused in a BJP supporter’s death, who was in Criminal Investigation Department’s custody, was brought for re-enactment of the crime scene. The police in Murshidabad too claimed that he snatched a fire-arm from an officer and threatened to shoot them, because of which another officer shot him dead.West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari has stood firmly with the police in both cases and categorically stated, “Police was given free-hand in combating crime against children and women. They are free to take any step to ensure that.”Another encounter, and a lynchingIn South 24 Parganas’ Surjyapur, a mother of an 11-year-old who was gang-raped and murdered in July, is still awaiting justice. One of the accused, Prabhash Mondal, was shot dead in a police encounter, while the other accused, Indrajit Mandal, was lynched by a mob in the village the same month.The police have also filed a charge-sheet. The victim belonged to a Muslim community.The Wire earlier reported how the July incident caused an uproar and stirred communal responses. Adhikari, who had visited Indrajit Mandal’s home, had spun a religious angle. Despite his name being on the FIR, Adhikari pronounced him innocent and claimed he was killed for his religion. The mother does not buy this justification. Speaking to The Wire, she asked, “Do you know why my daughter got raped and murdered? What was the motive?”“Every night she comes to my dreams and asks for her favourite food,” she said as tears rolled down her eyes. “Though we are Muslim, all of us celebrate Durga Puja every year. My daughter used to wait for her Puja vacations. Buying new dresses for Puja was also common for our family. This year she had asked for a princess gown and a hair clip for Puja because she scored a good rank in her school exams.”Speaking about the rising crimes against women in the state, she simply submitted, “My daughter too was just a number there. What should I do? Had the police acted on the missing complaint, my daughter could have been alive today.”Rising crimes against womenWhile the chief minister claims the encounter was explained, and that the police has been combating crimes, recent data from the ‘State Crime Records Bureau’, as revealed in reply to an RTI query by former Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Saket Gokhale, showed that from May 1, 2026 to September 24, 2026 – that is in a span of 147 days – the state recorded 600 murders, 13,114 attempts to murder, 2,454 rapes, and 32,341 cases of assault causing grievous hurt.BJP spokesperson Debjit Sarkar has claimed that many of these cases concerned offences allegedly committed under the previous government, with delayed complaints, including in cases of rape and post-poll violence, and that they were registered only after the change of government.Speaking to The Wire, Gokhale said, “If the claim is that ‘these are old cases’, the government should release the copies of all FIRs registered. That would help anyone check the date of offence and find out under which administration it happened. Also, why is the BJP responding to something that the state government officials should respond to?”Also read: At Bengal Village, Child’s Rape-Murder Takes a Backseat as Communal Mistrust Follows Govt ReactionThe Wire tried to reach West Bengal director general of police Siddh Nath Gupta but he did not respond. This article will be updated upon receiving a response.Meanwhile, a highly-placed IPS officer of the state police, on condition of anonymity, confirmed to The Wire that among these 48,509 cases, 1,600 were old incidents, i.e., from the TMC government’s period. He claimed, “In May and June, many old cases of murder, grievous hurt, and atrocities against women, including rape and molestation, were filed that weren’t lodged during the TMC regime.”However, he admitted crimes against women, including cyber-based sexual crimes, POCSO offences against girl children, and rape, gang rape and molestation have shown an upward trend. When pressed about the possible reasons for this uptick, he justified it, saying, “Women of all ages are coming forward against the crimes, and at the same time, the police are registering them at a greater rate. So, that has increased the total number of crimes.”The October 25 incident was only the latest in a series of similar crimes against women in recent months. A week agoOn October 18, the Saptami night of Durga Puja, a woman with a mental health condition was raped. She was rescued by a woman in the vicinity, and the accused, Subhash Mandal, who was probably intoxicated, was caught and sent to custody the same night. However, since then, the victim has been missing. Madhumita Dey Roy, who rescued the woman, showed immense courage that night. The incident had occurred near Doltala, Madhyamgram, in North 24 Parganas’ Barasat district, while she was returning home around 1 am, with her husband and three-year-old child after pandal-hopping. She had heard an unusual scream and stopped to check. Narrating it to The Wire, she said, “I shouted like anything to get some help and save the lady from the predator. Believe me, no one came forward. I kept shouting ‘help’, ‘help’, a lady is being raped here. No one showed any empathy. A security guard of the building in which the crime occurred came out and went back in without intervening.” She had subsequently stepped in herself. Seeing her, the man allegedly tried to escape but was then caught by two or three people in the locality and handed over to the police. The victim was left unconscious. Roy had grabbed a plastic sheet nearby and wrapped her to cover her body. The police and the administration gave her the assurance that the woman would be taken care of. So once the accused was arrested, Roy and her family returned home.However, since then, the victim has been missing. Apparently, she left the spot. The police are yet to find her. The woman was from the area and the locals were aware of her mental condition. A Barasat police district official said the CCTV footage is being monitored to trace the whereabouts.But the incident has left more questions than answers.How did she leave? When did she regain consciousness? Is she alive? Did anyone forcefully remove her from the crime scene? Why wasn’t she immediately taken to the hospital?When asked about this, a senior police officer told The Wire, “The golden period for medico-legal examination is already over. This case will lose its merit. It will be difficult to establish rape.”Madhumita cursed herself for leaving the place before taking care of the victim. “I did not understand that this could happen,” she said.A representation of women in Bengal at Kendua Shanti Sangha Durga Puja pandal in Kolkata. Photo: Anwesha Banerjee‘If I had 10 hands like Durga…’These incidents, along with the SCRB data have become the talking point in Bengal’s political and administrative arena.Hearing about these incidents, another survivor from South Kolkata’s Tiljala sighed and said, “Even the high-profile case of the rape and murder of R.G. Kar’s junior doctor is still in the dark; who will fight for me? I am only 16 years old and a rape survivor. My friend’s father raped me. Every day I struggle to come to terms with it. I know I am not going to get any justice. I don’t even expect it!”In a very low voice, the girl added, “Sometimes I feel if I had 10 hands like Durga, I would have killed all the demons like my perpetrators. In reality, that is not possible. It’s a lost battle for me. My life has changed forever.”‘We’ve lost our humanity’Madhumita Dey Roy feels that the police and the administration alone cannot stop these crimes. “We the individuals have lost our basic minimum humanity, empathy and sympathy towards each other. Even when I screamed at my loudest – ‘Rape! Help!’ – no one came forward. Is it possible for the police to be present everywhere at any given time?” Also read: What is the Perfect Rape Conviction?“Everyone is concerned about their own safety. Who wants to invite additional trouble? The police will continuously contact you, and may even harass you, so everyone wants to avoid getting involved,” she said.“I am also scared about my own safety these days. I have a family. If the man gets bail and attacks me, what should I do?” she asked, adding that she may go to the Madhyamgram station to seek police protection.‘Just numbers’An IAS officer posted in the Western Zone of the state, on the condition of anonymity, told The Wire, “The SCRB data is nothing unusual. Neither this, nor the national crime data is not beyond scrutiny. They have always been alleged to be suppressing the actual crime figures. So these RTI figures are just numbers.”“I believe it is actually not about any regime or any political party; it’s our collective failure that in a country where so many goddesses are worshipped in various forms and names, women are not safe in our state or country. What is the point of slogans like ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’?” he asked.While these revelations make headlines, in a government facility near Kolkata, a teenage mother was crying bitterly. Her husband is in jail for marrying her while she was underage. They have an 8-month-old baby together.The police have charged him under stringent sections under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 and POCSO, 2012, for rape and child marriage.She does not have anyone to stay with; her parents have stopped talking to her since their marriage. She wants her husband to be freed. “We had a love marriage. He did not rape me. We were happy together. Why didn’t the police understand? If something happens to me or to our child, who will be responsible for that?” she asked.The question remains as women’s safety becomes a recurring political debate, while little changes on the streets.