Independent probe sought in gang rape of law college student case

Three public interest litigation (PIL) petitions were filed before the Calcutta High Court seeking an “independent investigation” into the gang rape of a student at a law college in Kolkata on Monday (June 30, 2025), even as a fact-finding delegation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) visited the college, where the incident occurred on June 25, 2025.

A Division Bench led by Justice Soumen Sen of the High Court admitted the PILs and the matter will come up for hearing later this week. Providing an update on the investigation into the incident, the Kolkata police, in a social media post, said, “Medicolegal examination of the victim and the accused persons has been completed. Forensic examination of the place of occurrence has been done”.

The investigation is being monitored by a special investigation team (SIT) under the close supervision of senior officers. “The Kolkata police are committed to ensure that the perpetrators of the crime face the harshest possible legal action and the victim gets justice at the earliest,” a statement said.

The BJP fact-finding team comprising former Union Ministers, Satpal Singh and Meenakshi Lekhi, and MPs Biplab Kumar Deb and Manan Kumar Mishra, met Kolkata police Commissioner Manoj Kumar Verma, and visited the South Calcutta Law College.

Students clash with BJP workers

The BJP team negotiated with the police present on the spot to let them enter the college premises. Student protesters clashed with BJP workers. Many students were injured in the scuffle.

Classes have been indefinitely suspended at the college. The institution, now a crime scene, has been sealed, suspending teaching and learning activities of about 600 students.

Members of the BJP team raised questions on the recurring incidents of sexual assault in the State and questioned why the institution appointed Monojit Mishra, one of the prime accused and a law college graduate, as a contractual staff.

“We have not just come here only to take stock of the investigation into the gangrape case, but 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, it is a pattern now,” BJP leader Mr. Satpal Singh said.

The BJP team pointed out that there have been allegations and police cases against Mishra in the past and questioned why he was appointed as a contractual staff at the law college. The governing body of the college is presided by Trinamool Congress MLA from Budge Budge Ashok Deb.

The photographs of Mishra who was associated with Trinamool Congress Chattra Parishad till 2022 has surfaced with several leaders of the ruling party, including Mr. Deb.

Mishra, 31, was arrested along with two others Zaib Ahmed (19) and Pramit Mukherjee (20) and charged with gang rape and wrongful detention on the basis of a complaint made by a student of the college on June 26. Several students of the institution have come forward saying that allegations against Mishra involve vandalising the college campus and molestation.

Protests continue

Kolkata, West Bengal, Students of South Calcutta Law College and various law colleges stage protests in Kolkata outside the institute premises in solidarity with the rape survivor. Photo DEBASISH BHADURI
| Photo Credit:
Debasish Bhaduri

Protests over the incident continued to rage in different parts of the city with supporters of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and the BJP holding demonstrations at different places and the police using force to disperse and detain them.

Also read: Classes at South Calcutta Law College suspended, as protests erupt over rape of student

Meanwhile, the West Bengal government has directed the governing body of South Calcutta Law College to remove Mishra as a contractual staff member. The Director of Public Instruction has also directed that the two other students, Zaib Ahmed and Pramit Mukherjee, should be rusticated.