Burdwan, Nov. 22: The family of a 12-year-old girl is faced with the CPM?s ire since lodging a police complaint against a leader who is said to have molested her on the night of Kali puja.

Sushil Kshetrapal, a village panchayat member at Ajhapur, about 90 km from Calcutta, is absconding. The charges against him include molestation and attempted rape.

Police said Kshetrapal allegedly harassed the girl when she was returning home from Hattola after visiting Kali puja pandals. The girl said: ?I was with a friend. After she went into her house, I was returning alone through Haripara. The man (Kshetrapal) pounced on me? forced me to a pond side? After some time, I cried out for help. He fled.?

Her father Debu Hazra, a farm labourer, was then pressured by a section of the local CPM not to go to the police. As has been the case in several recent instances, the party suggested a ?conciliation?.

Ganesh Ghosh, the branch committee secretary, summoned Hazra to the party office several times.

As Hazra was being coaxed to keep quiet on the issue by the Jamalpur-II local committee, Kshetrapal roamed free.

The father of the tortured schoolgirl said: ?We wanted to lodge a complaint with the police immediately after the incident, but some local CPM leaders, including Ganesh Ghosh, prevented me from doing so. They promised justice by the party-led panchayat. However, instead of taking action against the accused, they began to threaten me. Finally, I lodged a complaint on November 19.?

Ghosh denied that the party was trying to shield the accused. ?We wanted to sort out the dispute through discussion, but the girl?s father went to the police. We have no intention to protect the accused. Let the law take its own course.?

The pradhan of Ajhapur village panchayat, Mahadeb Banerjee, echoed Ghosh. ?We are not trying to protect our member (Kshetrapal). We had earlier assured Debu Hazra that we would sort out the case. But he went to the police??

Burdwan superintendent of police Niraj Singh said an investigation has begun on the basis of the girl?s statement. ?We are trying to arrest the accused. He is absconding.?

At Burdwan?s Khandaghosh, 140 km from Calcutta, another rape accused with CPM links is ?absconding? according to the police, but roaming free according to villagers. The CPM unit there is ?trying to settle the matter amicably?.

The victim, a widow, went to Burdwan police station in December last year to file a complaint against Dhiraj Das, an inspector at the block health centre. The police refused to have it registered. Her complaint was finally accepted following a court order, but the police then could not manage to get hold of Das.