The National Commission for Women (NCW) took suo motu cognisance of the alleged gang-rape and wrote to Kolkata police commissione urging a swift and time-bound investigation into the case
KOLKATA — A student aspiring to join South Calcutta Law College was allegedly gang-raped inside the institution by a former student, with two senior students assisting in the crime, Kolkata police said on Friday, June 27.
According to the reports, the victim had arrived at the college in the afternoon to fill out academic forms after being summoned by individuals known to her. Later that evening, she was allegedly forced into a guard’s room on the ground floor near the students’ union office and raped till 10 pm.
Kolkata Police arrested three youths for raping a young woman within the premises of a reputed law college, police said on Friday. The victim and two of the accused are all students of the South Kolkata Law College (New Campus), while the third accused is a former student, reports IANS.
Insiders from the city police said that one of the three men was arrested late on Thursday evening, while the other two were held in the wee hours of Friday.
All three were produced in court and have been remanded to police custody for four days.
City police insiders further said that the cops started an investigation in the matter based on a complaint filed by the victim at Kasba Police Station in South Kolkata on the night of June 25.
In her complaint, she stated that she was sexually assaulted in the common room of the law college that is also located at Kasba on the same evening between 7 P.M. and 9 P.M.
In her complaint, she also named the three accused persons.
City police insiders said that immediately after her complaint was registered she was taken for medical examination to the state-run National Medical College & Hospital in central Kolkata.
After the medical examinations confirmed the authenticity of her complaint, the cops of Kasba Police station sprang into action and arrested the three accused persons one after another.
The cops are already getting the confidential statement of the victim recorded in front of a Judicial Magistrate.
The Investigating Officers have procured the footage of the CCTV cameras installed within the law college premises including the one at the scene of the crime.
The police have also started the process of recording the statements of the faculty, students and security personnel of the law college.
Sources from the college confirmed that the prime accused, ironically a criminal lawyer, had been appointed as a temporary non-teaching staff member on a renewable 45-day contract.
Social media posts show the key accused as a former president of the college’s Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) unit and the current organisational secretary of the TMCP’s south Kolkata wing. Images of him with several senior leaders of the ruling party have also surfaced.
The Trinamool Congress has reportedly admitted that the main accused is linked to the party’s student wing but insisted that this would not come in the way of him getting the strictest possible punishment.
The event has once again raised questions on women’s safety in the city and that, too, within the premises of educational institutions.
“The law and order situation in Kolkata as well as the entire state has collapsed. Now Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will float theories like ‘love affair’ or describe the event as a ‘minor incident.” Next, she will announce compensation. The Chief Minister has no right to remain in her chair for a single minute. This is a major event and we will see it through to the end,” said Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari.
Meanwhile, the National Commission for Women (NCW) took suo motu cognisance of the alleged gang-rape of a student inside a Kolkata law college and expressed deep concern over the incident.
NCW chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar has written to Kolkata police commissioner Manoj Verma, urging a swift and time-bound investigation. She has directed the police to submit a detailed report within three days. With inputs from IANS
