Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, June 30: A massive showdown of the BJP and Left supporters took place outside the law college in south Kolkata where a student was raped inside the college premises allegedly by a temporary staff member and two current students of the college on June 25.
A four-member “fact-finding team” formed by the BJP, which arrived in the city on Monday attempted to visit the college but were stopped outside the premises by the police. Barricades were put up outside the premises as the BJP leaders attempted to enter the campus.
The police said on Monday that the three accused were believed to have “pre-planned” the assault on the 24-year old first year student. The officials of the nine-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the incident also found that the three accused — Monojit Mishra, Pratim Mukherjee and Zaid Ahmed — had a history of sexually harassing female students of the college. The fourth accused arrested in this connection is the security guard of the college who was said to be forced out of the guard room by the three other accused.
According to the officer, the trio would record such episodes on their mobile phones and later use the footage to blackmail the victims. “The entire matter was premeditated. The trio had been plotting for several days to carry out this torture on the victim. We have found that the victim was targeted by the prime accused from the very first day she got admission to the college,” the police officer said.
Kolkata Police has launched a search for mobile videos allegedly filmed by the trio. Searches were conducted at the residences of the accused Mukherjee and Ahmed on Sunday. We are looking for footage related to this and possibly other incidents,” the officer said.
The investigators also said a video clip of the June 25 alleged gang rape might have been shared by the accused. “We are trying to find out whether those clips were forwarded or shared with some other groups. In that case, we have to get in touch with those who have received that,” the officer said.
“The SIT has prepared a list of over 25 people, mostly students of South Calcutta Law College, who were present at the educational institution on June 25 evening,” he said. “All these people will be questioned in connection with the investigation. We have to find out what they witnessed that evening,” he said.
Even as the Trinamool Congress continued to distance itself from the prime accused Mr Mishra, a former leader of the party’s students wing, saying that he has not held any post within the party or its students wing since 2022, the BJP continued to mount frontal attack on the ruling party claiming that the crime against women in West Bengal was increasing and had now become a “set pattern.”
The BJP announced the names of four of its members on Saturday, tasking them to visit the site of the incident in Kolkata and see the progress of the police probe into the case. Former union minister Meenakshi Lekhi, former Tripura chief minister and current Lok Sabha MP Biplab Kumar Deb, Rajya Sabha MP Manan Kumar Mishra and former cop Satpal Singh were chosen as the committee members. The team will submit its report to the BJP national president JP Nadda.
Addressing a press conference, Satpal Singh, attacked Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the incident and said. “We have not just come here to catalyse the investigation into the gang rape case that took place in South Calcutta Law College, but we have come here to give a message that every member of the BJP, every citizen of this country, stands with the women of West Bengal… The kind of incidents taking place in West Bengal are not just incidents, it’s a pattern now… Crimes against women in the state are increasing even after having a woman as the Chief Minister,” he said.
The BJP leader said they met the Police Commissioner, who informed the team about the progress of the case. “There are so many cases of crimes against women where FIRs are also not being registered… We met the Police Commissioner. He told us about the investigation and arrests made so far. He assured us that the accused will be punished soon… The person who has had four cases against him since 2013, has been arrested four times, and has been a member of the TMC students’ wing, how was such a person given admission in a law college?” he asked.
Senior Trinamool leader and Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said the BJP fact finding team should visit BJP-ruled States where allegations of sexual assault have come to the fore. “We are not saying that it is not fact. We are not shielding the accused in any way. Within 12 hours of the incident, the police have arrested three persons,” Ms Bhattacharya said. Trinamool Congress spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said the party stands with the survivor and her family and demands exemplary punishment for the accused.
In the college campus, “Monojit dada” here is Monojit Mishra, prime accused in the rape case and an alumnus, wielded huge influence on the campus even after he graduated. According to Monojit’s profile, he has led the college unit of Trinamool College Chhatra Parishad, the student wing of the ruling party in West Bengal, since 2017. Amid nationwide outrage over the rape case, the Trinamool has claimed he has no links with the party and must face the strictest punishment.
Students of the college say Monojit, called “Mango” by friends, wielded massive clout on campus, to the extent that even teachers and office staff feared him. According to reports, multiple complaints of harassment and molestation had been registered against him in the past, but no action was taken.
Monojit’s father, Robin Mishra, is a priest at Kalighat, and his mother suffers from neurological issues. Robin Mishra has said in interviews that he worked very hard to provide his son with a good education, but broke off ties due to his involvement in politics and frequent brawls. Monojit stayed nearby and would only come to collect documents delivered to his father’s home. Robin Mishra has said Monojit had been living separately for about four years.
Neighbours claim Monojit, whose nickname is Papai, was a troublemaker who often got into drunken brawls. Some reports say he had a girlfriend, also a lawyer, who often visited him. Once a promising student aspiring for a career in law, Monojit joined the Kolkata College in 2007 and would have finished the course in 2012. During his time, he became involved in campus politics. In 2011, the Trinamool came to power in Bengal. Monojit dropped out before finishing his course. He took readmission in 2017 and passed out in 2022. His profile describes him as a “criminal lawyer”, but his father has said he spent more time on campus than in the courtroom.
In 2017, Monojit was allegedly involved in an incident of vandalism at the college’s principal’s office. The Trinamool then dissolved the college’s party unit, so Monojit, officially, didn’t hold a post anymore. But the law college, like several other colleges in Kolkata, has had no student body polls since 2017. So, on the ground, Monojit was still the neta, with a loyal bunch of cheerleaders.
Interestingly, in 2023, a year after he passed out, Monojit joined the college as a casual, clerical staff member and his appointment letter was issued by the college administration. According to reports, he would get Rs 500 per day for his work. It is curious why a lawyer would settle for this work. The answer, probably, lies in an addiction to the influence and following that he enjoyed on campus.
According to media reports, Monojit’s oft-used pick-up line for women on campus was “tui amay biye korbi?” (Will you marry me?)”. He used the same line when he first approached the 24-year- survivor of the campus rape. Some fellow College students said Monojit would click pictures of female students, morph them and circulate them on WhatsApp groups. The neta and his gang would then body-shame them and gossip about them on campus.
There is more. Some students have said they were so scared of Monojit that they had stopped going to college. Last year, in the aftermath of a doctor’s rape-murder at a Kolkata hospital, huge protests rocked the city. Monojit confronted some students who had joined the march and questioned them. He allegedly threatened and also beat up some of them. Students have said Monojit would openly say that nothing would happen to him as he has access to top netas.
Monojit Mishra has multiple police complaints against him. He was out on bail in these cases. Some of them include: (1) ripping off the dress of a woman student in South Calcutta Law College in July 2019 (2) stealing music system, perfume, spectacles from a friend’s home in Dec 2019 (3) molesting a woman in Swinhoe Lane in March 2022 (4) assaulting a man and getting arrested later in April 2017. He is also accused of beating up a college guard and damaging college property in a May 2024 case.
Police have said Monojit Mishra has denied the rape allegation and has claimed that it was consensual. Police are now planning to seek an extension for his custody and may submit the list of crimes in court to argue their cases. The survivor has alleged in her complaint that Monojit and the two other accused Pramit Mukherjee and Zaib Ahmed called her to the college’s union room around 7 pm on June 25. This raises big questions about the discipline on campus. Classes are over by 5 pm, after which the gates must be closed. How then can students remain in the union room till late? The victim has alleged that a security guard on campus assisted the accused.
She has said once she reached the union room, Monojit asked her to “prove her loyalty” to Trinamool’s student wing. She smelled a rat and tried to leave, but was dragged to another room and raped there. The accused shot videos and threatened her to stay mum. Police officers part of the investigation have said that the CCTV footage from the campus has corroborated the survivor’s account and shows her being forced into the room where the crime took place. Four people, including the guard, have been arrested in the case.
