Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, June 27: Three persons, including two students, have been arrested for alleged gang-rape of a fellow 24-year old student inside the premises of a law college in Kasba area in South Kolkata with the incident quickly taking political turn due to the alleged involvement of a leader of the Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad, the students wing of the ruling TMC in West Bengal.
The alleged sexual assault was committed inside the college premises between 7.30 p.m. and 10.50 p.m. on June 25, 2025, a senior Kolkata Police official said on Friday. All the three arrested persons were produced in court which remanded them in police custody for four days. The process of the victim’s submission of a confidential statement before a judicial magistrate was also underway, police said.
The third arrested in this connection is also said to be a former student of the same college and a students’ union leader. The three accused named by the victim were identified as Manojit Mishra, 30, Pramit Mukherjee 20 and Zaib Ahmed, 19. A complaint against them were filed with the Kasba police on Thursday night.
According to the college’s Vice Principal, Noyna Chatterjee, Manojit is a former student whose involvement in the crime is currently under investigation. Chatterjee stated that Manojit had been appointed as temporary staff by the college’s governing body, and the president of the governing body was informed immediately after the matter came to light. She also called for strict punishment.
Police said the alleged crime and torture took place inside a guard’s room on the ground floor of the college next to the students’ union office on the evening of June 25 and lasted for over two hours. The official said a medical examination of the survivor was conducted at Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital. “The witnesses were examined and their statement were recorded. The P.O (place of occurrence) was visited and it was guarded for pending forensic investigation,” the police officer said.
The police said the victim of the law college rape had given a vivid description of the crime committed by the accused. She told the police that two men watched as the third raped her in the college guardroom next to the office of the students’ union.
In her complaint, filed Thursday evening, the woman said three men – whom she identified with the initials ‘J’, ‘M’, and ‘P’ – cornered her at 7.30 pm after a student body meeting. She said ‘M’ and ‘P’ locked her in a room with ‘J’, who dragged her to the restroom and tried to rape her.
“I fought back… I cried and asked him to let me go… I even touched his feet but he didn’t let me go…” she told the cops, “… he tried to force me with the intention of having sex. I kept pushing him back. I asked him to let me go. ‘I can’t do this, I have a boyfriend and I love him’, I said.” She also said she had a panic attack during the assault and begged for an inhaler.
“… I had a panic attack and (was) having shortness of breath. Then ‘J’ called ‘M’ and ‘P’ to come inside. I asked for help… but they were not helping me. Then I told them to bring an inhaler for me… ‘M’ brought that. I took it and felt better,” she told the cops, “… I went outside to escape. “But, according to the woman, the attack continued outside.
The main gate, she said, had been locked “and the guard was helpless and did not help”. She said she was then bundled into the guard’s room (and the guard was thrown out) where “‘J’ undressed me and started forcefully raping me. When I fought back, he blackmailed me…” The woman said throughout the alleged rape and after she had been threatened – on pain of death of her family and boyfriend – to not tell anyone about what had happened to her.
‘J’ was forcefully raping me… ‘M’ and ‘P’ stood and saw everything…” she said, claiming also that she was hit on the head, with a hockey stick, while the sexual assault continued. At 10.50 pm, she said in her complaint, the men released her, warning her again about informing the authorities. “But today I made up my mind… I want justice. Being a law student, I am the victim now and I want the justice to be served as soon as possible…” she told the cops.
In her complaint the young woman did identify one of her attackers as an “ex-student as well as an official of the college… unofficially, he is the head of the TMCP (Trinamool Chhatra Parishad) unit of the college and holds much power… everyone listened to him.”
The BJP slammed the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) government, saying that under Mamata Banerjee’s rule, West Bengal had become a breeding ground for crimes against women. “Rapes have become a daily horror, and the state machinery continues to fail its daughters. Enough is enough. BJP will not stay silent. We will fight tooth and nail to end this rape culture that has flourished under TMC’s rule,” the party said.
Taking to X, BJP leader Amit Malviya called the incident “horrific” and cited reports as saying that a member of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) was also involved. “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 for women. Rape has turned into a routine tragedy,” he said. The BJP stands with the victim and her family. We are determined to end this culture of impunity. We will not rest until every culprit is punished.”
The Kasba rape happened less than a year after a post-graduate trainee doctor was raped and murdered at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on August 8 and 9 last year, sending shockwaves throughout the nation and sparking widespread protests from the medical fraternity.
The body of the trainee was found in a seminar hall at the hospital in the early hours of August 9, 2024, triggering a state-wide protest. Sanjoy Roy, a civic volunteer, was arrested the following day in connection with the crime and was later found guilty by the court and sentenced to life imprisonment.
The BJP’s claim that the man listed by the cops as the main accused – Manojit Mishra – was an ‘influential’ figure within the Trinamool’s youth wing has added fuel to the fire. And, as it did in the RG Kar rape-murder case, the BJP has accused the Trinamool of ‘protecting’ the accused.
The Trinamool has not yet confirmed or denied any link to Mishra. The BJP, though, has shared photos on social media showing Mishra standing next to senior party leaders, including Abhishek Banerjee, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and Lok Sabha MP.
