Kolkata gangrape HORROR: Accused Trinamool student leader asked rape survivor to ‘prove loyalty’, proposed to…

Kolkata gangrape: Manojit Mishra, a student leader of the Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad (TMCP)– student wing of West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC)– who has been arrested for the alleged gangrape of a law student at the Kasba Law College in Kolkata on Friday, allegedly proposed to marry the rape survivor and asked her to prove her ”loyalty’ to him.

TMCP’s Manojit Mishra proposed to marry, asked victim to ‘prove loyalty’

As per the complaint filed by the victim, Manojit Mishra, a former student at Kasba Law College, who is currently the general secretary of the TMCP, allegedly tried to pressure her in to marriage, and asked her to prove her ‘loyalty’ to him and the TMCP. The young woman turned down the marriage proposal, saying she was already in a relationship, following which Mishra and two others allegedly gangraped her inside the security guard’s room in the college.

The woman alleged that before the heinous act, another accused, Pramit Mukherjee had called her, asking her to swear loyalty towards Mishra and the TMCP, the TMC’s student unit. “I promised him to provide my loyalty towards him (Manojit) and the team as I was appointed as the girls’ secretary. So I gave him the faith of my support towards the unit,” India Today reported.

She further alleged that Manojit Mishra alias ‘Mango’ had promised to make her the president of the TMCP’s college unit if she agreed to marry him. The victim said she had arrived at the college at around 12:05 PM on Wednesday (June 25), and was sitting in the union room, what around 7 PM in the evening, Mishra approached her and proposed to marry her, according to a report by Hindustan Times Bangla.

Kolkata gangrape

The student turned down Mishra’s marriage proposal, following which he and two other accused, both senior students at the Kasba Law College, allegedly raped her inside the guard’s room. The alleged crime took place between 7.30 pm and 10.50 pm on June 25.

Following a preliminary medical examination of the victim and witness statements, the Kolkata Police registered an FIR in the case and arrested three accused, including Manojit Mishra. Mishra and Zaib Ahmed were arrested on June 26 Siddhartha Shankar Roy Sishu Udyan at Talbagan, while the third accused, Pramit Mukherjee, was nabbed from his home on early Friday.

BJP demands Mamata Banerjee’s resignation

Meanwhile, opposition parties, including the BJP have criticised the TMC government over the incident, claiming that Kolkata has become unsafe for women and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee must resign from her post.

Union minister and BJP’s West Bengal unit president Sukanta Majumdar claimed that the alleged gang rape in a law college in Kolkata shows that female students are “not safe” in educational institutes in the state, even as the ruling Trinamool Congress asserted that the police swiftly apprehended all three accused in the case and urged the opposition party not to politicise the issue.

Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari said that a huge protest will be organised in connection with the crime and demanded the resignation of CM Mamata Banerjee. Adhikari alleged that senior officers of Kolkata Police have been in Digha, where the chief minister is participating in the Rath Yatra from the newly inaugurated Jagannath temple.

“Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has no right to stay put in her chair. She should resign,” he said.

(With inputs from agencies)

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