– Mita Mukherjee

A student of a state-aided law college in south Kolkata was allegedly gang raped by three persons inside the campus raising questions once again on the safety and security of women at educational premises in Bengal. The police arrested three persons on the basis of an FIR filed on Thursday.

According to the victim’s complaint, she was sitting inside the South Calcutta Law College union room on Wednesday evening when the three accused had forcibly taken her to the guard’s room and raped her after locking the main gate of the college.

The alleged gang rape took place between 7.30 pm and 10.50 pm on June 25, the police said on Friday.

The FIR was registered on the basis of the complaint lodged by the victim at Kasba police station, according to the police.

The accused have been identified as Manojit Mishra, a former student of the college, also a local Trinamul Congress leader and a member of the college governing body, sources said. The remaining two accused are current students, Zaib Ahmed and Pramit Mukherjee.

Mishra and Ahmed were arrested on June 26 and their mobile phones were confiscated at the time of arrest. The third accused Mukherjee was arrested on Friday morning, the police said.

A preliminary medical examination of the victim has been conducted at the Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital.

Witness statement have been recorded and the area where the crime was committed has been secured. Forensic examination of the crime scene is also awaited.

All three persons arrested in connection with the incident will be kept in police custody till July 1, the police said.

The incident comes nearly ten months after the R G Kar case that had shocked the nation. A postgraduate trainee doctor was raped and murdered inside the medical college and her body was found in a seminar room on the college campus last year.

The alleged gang rape of the law college student on June 25 sparked political controversy and Opposition party leaders came down heavily against Trinamul Congress for failing to ensure safety and security of women in the state.

BJP IT Cell head Amit Malviya said in a post on his X handle that the incident is “horrific”.

He said, “The horror of RG Kar hasn’t faded….and yet such heinous crimes continue to rise daily in Bengal. Under Mamata Banerjee’s rule West Bengal has become a nightmare of women. Rape has turned into a routine tragedy.”

Suvendu Adhikari, state leader of Opposition criticised the Trinamul Congress government saying that there is no safety for women in the state. The Trinamul Congress said in a statement that the party condemned the “tragic” rape incident in South Calcutta Law College and ” justice will be served”.

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