Today, On 10th July, In the Kolkata law college gang-rape case, the survivor told the Calcutta High Court, “I am satisfied with the Kolkata Police probe.” The Court took note of her statement while monitoring the investigation’s progress.
The rape victim from South Kolkata Law College informed the Calcutta High Court on Thursday that she is satisfied with the police investigation thus far.
A lawyer representing her conveyed this to a Bench comprising Justices Soumen Sen and Smita Das De.
The Court recorded in its order,
“Victim’s Advocate-on-Record (AOR) has said that the victim is satisfied with the progress of the investigation so far,”
The Bench was addressing public interest litigation (PIL) petitions that called for an independent and court-monitored investigation into the rape case.
The incident allegedly occurred on June 25 in the security guard room of the South Calcutta Law College, where a first-year student was raped. The survivor’s medical examination conducted at a state hospital supported her claims. So far, the Kolkata Police have arrested four individuals: Manojit Mishra, Promit Mukherjee, Zaid Ahmed, and the college guard.
It is alleged that Mishra committed the rape, while the other two filmed the incident to blackmail her. Mishra is reportedly affiliated with the youth wing of the Trinamool Congress.
During the PIL hearing, the Court reviewed the case diary along with a sealed report prepared by the police detailing the investigation’s progress. The Bench ordered that a scanned copy of this report be provided to the victim’s counsel as well.
The Court stated,
“A scanned copy of this report to be prepared by the department in the presence of the officer of this court shall be handed over to the AOR for the victim, in the presence of the AOR of the state,”
It warned the victim’s counsel against disclosing the report’s contents to anyone.
The police have been instructed to submit another progress report in four weeks.
Additionally, the Bench dismissed a PIL submitted by one Vijay Kumar Singhal, expressing concerns about his intentions. The Court noted that while the PIL requested a CBI investigation, the petitioner’s counsel began discussing the human rights of the accused.
The Court ordered,
“We are apprehensive about the bona fide of the petitioner that while there is an accusation of partial investigation, the petitioner is now espousing the cause of the accused being ill-treated or their human rights being violated. We have a serious doubt about their bona fide and the same is dismissed,”
Initially, the local Kasba Police station had launched the investigation, quickly arresting the three main accused within 24 hours of the victim’s complaint lodged on the evening of June 25. A special investigating team (SIT), led by an officer of the Assistant Commissioner of Police rank, was later formed to look into the case.
However, higher authorities in the city police decided to assign the investigation to the Detective Department.
The family of the law college student, who was a victim of gang-rape at her college in Kasba, South Kolkata, last week, has approached the Calcutta High Court, requesting to be included as a party in the public interest litigation (PIL) that seeks a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the incident.
Monojit Mishra is alleged to have raped the student in the college guard’s room, while Ahmed and Mukherjee are accused of aiding him in the act.
The 24-year-old victim arrived at the college around noon on the same day to fill out examination forms and initially waited in the college union room. According to her complaint, the main accused instructed that the main gate be locked, after which she was allegedly raped in the security guard’s room on campus.
In her complaint, the woman reported that the main accused pressured her to marry him, but she refused, citing an existing relationship. She alleged that he then threatened to harm her boyfriend and involve her parents in false cases before confining her at the college and assaulting her, resulting in injuries despite her attempts to resist.