R G Kar to law college rape case, TMC crisis deepens as Opposition turns up heat

Indian Express

13 hours ago

On June 25, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee arrived in Digha to oversee preparations for the first Rath Yatra at the newly-built Jagannath temple in the seaside town. On the same day, a 24-year-old student was allegedly raped at a Kolkata law college – barely 10 months after the rape- murder of a junior doctor at the city's R G Kar Medical College and Hospital sparked widespread protests and cornered the Trinamool Congress (TMC)-led government.
The TMC has now again found itself on the back foot after the Kolkata Police arrested four men in the law college rape case, including Manojit Misra, former leader of the TMC's student wing Trinamool Chhatra Parishad.
After the rape-murder at R G Kar in August 2024, major protests had broken out across Bengal, which were led by members of the medical community. Under pressure and after a series of meetings with agitating doctors, Mamata was forced to accept their demands, including the transfer of Kolkata Police and state health department officials.
Now, just ahead of the anniversary of the R G Kar outrage, the law college rape case has come as another jolt for the TMC. The main accused Misra, who was also a contractual staffer at the college, is a former Trinamool Chhatra Parishad general secretary in South Kolkata. He has at least five previous cases pending against him, including for attempt to murder, sexual assault and extortion, prompting questions from the Opposition on why no police action was taken against him earlier.
However, within hours of the college rape case coming to light, the TMC jumped to distance itself from the main accused as it faced attacks from the Opposition.
Trinamool Chhatra Parishad state president Trinankur Bhattacharya said, 'We are not denying he was with the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad in the past. For the last few years, the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad does not have any unit in the college (where the rape occurred). He was one of the organisational secretaries. There are 80-100 people in that post across all the districts. In 2022, a new committee was formed and he was not included in the committee.'
TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said, 'We are not defending the incident. But the BJP and the CPI(M) have no right to speak on this issue. Their hands are full with such crimes.'
The TMC, though, continues to face backlash from the R G Kar case – in which the CBI arrested only the main accused Sanjay Ray and ruled out the involvement of others including senior hospital staff. The victim's father has been upset with the CBI enquiry for 'failing' to investigate the 'larger conspiracy' behind her rape-murder.
The TMC leadership however does not believe that the party would face the same level of backlash in the college rape case as in the R G Kar matter. 'In the R G Kar rape-murder case, police had not acted properly and the administration had many faults. But in this case, the police swiftly acted and arrested all the culprits. So, it is not like the R G Kar case. In this case, the main accused tarnished our party's image though. We have to overcome that,' a senior TMC leader said.
But against this backdrop, the TMC has drawn more flak following controversial remarks made by veteran party MLA Madan Mitra and its Lok Sabha MP Kalyan Banerjee.
In his reaction to the college rape case, Kalyan said, 'If a friend rapes a friend, how can you ensure security? Will the police be there in schools? This was done by students to another student. Who will protect (the victim)?' Mitra further stoked controversy, saying that 'This incident has sent a message to girls that if someone calls you when the college is closed, don't go, nothing good will come of it. If that girl had not gone there, this incident wouldn't have happened.'
While Mitra has been issued a show-cause notice by the TMC following his comments, the party has also 'dissociated' itself from both the leaders' remarks, which it said were made in their 'personal capacities'. Late on Monday, Mitra issued an apology in his reply to the show-cause notice.
After TMC MP Mahua Moitra castigated both Kalyan and Mitra, accusing them of 'misogyny', Kalyan shot back, saying Moitra is 'anti-women' and had 'broken up a family of 40 years and married a 65-year-old guy'.
TMC insiders said party supremo Mamata Banerjee is 'displeased' with such statements by senior leaders, particularly at a time of crisis. 'Madan and other leaders are being warned against causing the (college rape case) crisis to deepen by making such loose comments, that too a month before the first anniversary of the R G Kar rape-murder,' a senior minister said.
But after taking on the TMC over the R G Kar row, the Opposition parties have also seized on the fresh case to gun for Mamata.
The BJP has constituted a four-member fact-finding team on the law college rape case. The team, formed on the directive of BJP national president J P Nadda, arrived in Kolkata Monday. It includes Rajya Sabha MP and former Tripura CM Biplab Kumar Deb, former Union Minister Satyapal Singh, ex-Union minister Meenakshi Lekhi, and Rajya Sabha MP Manan Kumar Mishra.
'The CM (Mamata) sends delegations to Hathras and Pahalgham, but when the Opposition comes to Bengal, they are stopped. Women are not safe here, not even law students,' Deb alleged.