BJP's National leadership has on Wednesday - April 13 formed a fact-finding committee with the task of probing a rape case in Hanskhali, West Bengal where the son of a local Trinamool Congress leader has been accused of assaulting a minor girl. A five-member committee is constituted with the directive to submit its report at the earliest, though the respective law enforcement agency has filed a case and begun investigations. 

The announcement of the committee has come a day after the court had permittedTrithe Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe the rape case. According to reports, a 14-year-old girl had died earlier this month in West Bengal's Nadia district. She was hospitalized after she complained of health complications and later, she had breathed her last. It has been alleged that the girl, a class 9 student, was allegedly gang-raped at a birthday party on April 5. 

The victim's family had accused the son of a Trinamool Congress panchayat leader in the case and the state has been witnessing protests over the shocking incident. West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee had sparked outrage after expressing doubt about the case of the girl's death, attributed to gang rape by her family.

After the son of the Trinamool Congress leader had been accused of raping the minor, the BJP has taken up the issue and has been staging protests against Mamata Banerjee's regime. Amid the protests, the BJP leadership has on Wednesday formed a fact-finding committee to probe the case. The committee consists of five women including state and national BJP leaders.

In an official statement, BJP's National General Secretary Arun Singh has said, "Hon'ble National President Shri Jagat Prakash Nadda has nominated a five-member fact-finding committee to visit the place of rape and murder of a minor girl at Hanskhali, Nadia, West Bengal. The committee will submit its report at the earliest." The five members of the committee are Rekha Verma, BJP Lok Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh and the party's national vice president, Baby Rani Maurya, Uttar Pradesh's cabinet minister, Vanathi Srinivasan, Tamil Nadu MLA and National President of BJP's Mahila Morcha, Kushbhu Sundar of Tamil Nadu, and Sreerupa Mitra Chaudhury, BJP MLA in West Bengal. 

It must be noted that the West Bengal police had already arrested the accused - the son of a Trinamool Congress leader and registered a case under sections 376(2)(G)- gang rape, 302 (murder), 204 (tampering with evidence) of the IPC and relevant sections of the POCSO Act. On Tuesday, the Calcutta High Court had granted permission to the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe the rape case. The court has said that in order to have a fair investigation and instil confidence in the family of the victim, the case was being handed over to the CBI.