Kolkata 'gang-rape': Appointment of prime accused as ad-hoc teacher cancelled amid uproar

The allegation of gang-rape, which came less than a year after protest against the rape and murder of a young doctor at the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, has put the ruling TMC in a tight spot.

Kolkata: Even as a team sent by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s central leadership visited Kolkata on Monday to enquire about the 'gang-rape' of a student at a law college in the city, the Trinamool Congress government discontinued the contractual appointment of the prime accused in the case as an ad-hoc teacher of the institution.

The BJP’s fact-finding team met the Commissioner of Kolkata Police, Manoj Verma, and visited the South Calcutta Law College, where the 24-year-old was allegedly gang-raped on June 25. The prime accused, along with three others, was already arrested by police. However, highlighting his 'links' with the TMC and its leaders, the BJP has been targeting Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, her government and her party over the incident.

“The basic question is why crimes against women are happening in a state which has a woman as a chief minister,” Meenakshi Lekhi, a former Union minister of state, said. “In a predominantly matriarchal society, where Goddess Durga is worshipped, is the current government planning on addressing and taking action against the growing cases of crimes against women or not?” Lekhi, one of the members of the BJP’s fact-finding committee, added.

“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 but have turned into a pattern now,” Satpal Singh, another member of the BJP’s team, said. “How could they appoint someone who already had so many criminal cases against him?”

The TMC, however, slammed the visit of the BJP’s fact-finding team, calling the members of the team “political tourists”.

The police allowed the visiting BJP leaders to enter the college after a brief altercation. This, however, irked the civil society protesters as well as the leftist activists, who were also agitating in front of the scene of the alleged gang-rape. Some of them had a scuffle with the workers of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the BJP.

The police investigation revealed that the prime accused in the case had earlier been accused in several complaints lodged with the police and had been notorious for harassing women.

The Congress and the Communist Party of India also took out protest marches across the state, condemning the alleged gang-rape.

The allegation of gang-rape, which came less than a year after protest against the rape and murder of a young doctor at the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata on August 9, 2024, has put the ruling TMC in a tight spot.

The BJP highlighted the 'links' of the prime accused with the Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad, the student wing of the ruling party.

The TMC, however, said that the accused had no connection with any wing of the party since 2021. He had passed out of the college in 2022 and started practising as a lawyer.

His appointment as a contractual ad hoc teacher of the college was cancelled on Monday.