TMCP leader show-caused over video showing humiliation of students in Bengal college

Kolkata: A video purportedly showing involvement of a Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) leader in humiliating students of a college in West Bengal surfaced on Monday, prompting the organisation to show-cause him.

The BJP demanded legal action in connection with the incident in Narasinha Dutt College in Howrah district, which the TMCP, the students’ wing of the ruling Trinamool Congress, said that the clip was old and doctored.

The accused Souvik Roy, who is the vice-president of the TMCP’s state unit, claimed that he was framed.

A senior TMCP leader told PTI that Souvik Roy, who is the vice-president of the organisation’s state unit, was issued a show cause notice concerning the video clip and asked to reply "with irrefutable evidence against the charges" within three days.

"Allegations about the same incident had been levelled against him in 2023, but after a thorough probe, the charges were proved unfounded. The BJP is raking up wild claims against TMCP functionaries. Still, for the sake of probity and transparency, we have issued a show cause to Roy," the leader said.

He also claimed that the video clip was doctored.

The video, the authenticity of which could not be ascertained by PTI, was recorded inside the union room of the college during a freshers' welcome event in which Roy was present as an alumnus.

In a post on X, the West Bengal BJP alleged that students were forced to unzip their trousers and show private parts. “This is exactly how Souvik Roy, state vice-president of TMC's Chhatra Parishad, used to rag and abuse students in Howrah’s Narasinha Dutt College." The students also suffered matchstick burns on their private parts during the event, the BJP alleged.

"These matters had been reported to the TMCP Howrah president in 2023, the TMCP state president Trinankur Bhattacharya, Bantra Police Station, and the Anti-Ragging Commission, but no action was taken against him. From raping women in Kasba Law College and Nadia colleges, to sexually exploiting young males, TMC is a party of creepy predatory scums," the post said.

The obscene images of ragging at Narasinha Dutt College circulating on social media prompt the BJP to demand legal action, said the party spokesperson Debjit Sarkar.

Roy, however, claimed that he had taken initiatives to stop ragging of first-year students.

"I am being framed. Two video clips have been joined to show me and our organisation in poor light. Truth will come out if a proper investigation is ordered," he told reporters.

College Principal Soma Bandyopadhyay said, "Roy had been asked not to attend any college function since allegations surfaced against him in the past. Now we will stop the entry of any outsider in the college on every occasion without verifying their purpose of visit.

The clip surfaced close in the heels of the alleged gang rape of a first-year student by an alumnus-cum-casual employee of South Calcutta Law College and two of her seniors, all affiliated to the TMC's students' wing, on the evening of June 25 post class hours.

All three accused, along with a security guard of the college, were arrested afterwards.