Law student's rape: Calcutta University drops Kolkata college as LLB exam centre over police presence
'The shadow of the horrific incident is still in the minds of all, and there are barricades in front of the campus since the investigation is going on. The police are present on the campus, guarding the student union room and the guard room where the alleged crime took place. So the college will not be an exam centre,' said the university official, adding that the second semester examinations could also not be held at the college because of heavy police deployment in the wake of the alleged rape.
In the Calcutta High Court, counsel representing the college had requested the bench of Justices Soumen Sen and Samira Das De to provide a temporary police post on the campus until the college could hire new security staff.
According to sources, a member of the college's governing body had requested the university not to consider the college as an examination centre until the police deployment was withdrawn.
Monojit Mishra, 31, a former contractual staffer at the college, and security guard Pinaki Banerjee, 55, and second-year students Zaib Ahmed, 19, and Pramit Mukherjee, 20, are the accused in the case. Mishra was also a functionary of the ruling Trinamool Congress's student wing.
On Friday, the university removed two of its nominees from the college governing body. Interim Vice-Chancellor Santa Datta De said in a statement that Sibranjan Chatterjee and Yashwanti Sremanee had been removed for 'the irregular appointment of Monojit Mishra and not opposing the appointment and other irregular activities of the governing body'.
Also on Friday, the police sought police custody of all four men accused in the case for further investigation, but the Alipore court sent them back to judicial custody till August 5. Police sources said there had been some discrepancies in the statements of the accused and their gait analysis (comparison of a person's walking pattern to that captured in CCTV footage) report.
The police's detective department has taken over the rape case from the Special Investigation Team (SIT). The SIT, which initially had five members and was later expanded to add four more, will now assist the department in the inquiry.
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