Agencies/ THE NEWS DOSE DESK
Kolkata|June 27,UPDATED:7.30PM
A first-year student of South Calcutta Law College was allegedly gang-raped inside the campus on the evening of June 25 by a former student and two senior students, police said on Friday.
All three accused have been arrested and remanded to four days’ police custody. The prime accused, according to college sources, is a practising criminal lawyer at Alipore Court and was recently engaged as a temporary non-teaching staff member at the college on a 45-day contractual basis.
Police said the assault took place in a guard’s room on the ground floor of the college, next to the students’ union office, and lasted for over two hours. The victim had reportedly come to the college that afternoon to submit academic forms after being called by “some people.” In her complaint filed at Kasba Police Station, she alleged that she was forcibly detained and raped till around 10 pm.
She has further alleged that the accused filmed the assault and threatened to upload the video online if she reported the matter. Police have seized the mobile phones of the accused for forensic examination to determine if the footage was shared. The room has been sealed, and forensic teams are expected to collect evidence.
The incident has triggered widespread outrage and drawn parallels with the rape and murder of an intern at RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata last year.
Taking suo motu cognizance, the National Commission for Women (NCW) has sought a detailed action-taken report from Kolkata Police within three days.
The college administration confirmed the accused was employed temporarily on the basis of a governing body resolution. Vice Principal Nayna Chatterji said she was informed by security that police had sealed two rooms on campus and that the administration was trying to ascertain the full facts.
Social media posts show the prime accused identifying himself as a former president of the college’s Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad unit and organisational secretary of the south Kolkata wing of the party’s student body. Photos available publicly also show him with senior leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress.
The party has denied any current association with the accused and called for the “strictest punishment” if found guilty.
Police said the victim was assaulted after rejecting a marriage proposal from the main accused and attempting to leave the campus. Medical examination of the victim is underway, and her confidential statement is being recorded before a magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC.
