Scratch Mark Is ‘Love Bite’: Kolkata Gangrape Accused Manojit Mishra Claims, His Lawyer Doubts Rape Charge
Monojit Mishra, identified as the main accused in the alleged gang-rape of a 24-year-old law student in Kolkata, has reportedly told his lawyer that the “scratch marks” on his body, discovered during a medical examination, were in fact “love bites”.
Speaking to news agency ANI, Manojit Mishra’s lawyer, Raju Ganguly, recounted his conversation with the accused: “I asked him what happened that he has such serious allegations against him. He told me that everyone is making him out to be a villain. I told him that it is being said that he has several scratch marks from nails on his body… He took off his shirt, I showed him one mark (points at the neck) and asked him what it is. He told me it is a ‘love bite’. When I asked him who gave him that, the Police took him away… I could not see any scratch marks from nails on him. I could see one mark (points at the neck).”
Ganguly further insisted that the investigation should also include the seizure and forensic examination of the survivor’s phone, with its call records brought before the court. “I said that the phone of the victim should also be seized, sent to forensic and call record should be brought before court,” he told ANI.
Expressing uncertainty about the allegations, Ganguly stated, “I feel that perhaps this is not a rape case. I have not yet come to a conclusion, I would be able to tell you by 20th July whether this is rape or not.”
Kolkata Law College Gangrape: Medical Findings Support Survivor’s Claims
The alleged assault reportedly occurred on 25 June inside a security guard’s room on the premises of South Calcutta Law College. Police have arrested four individuals: Monojit Mishra; his co-accused, Zaib Ahmed and Pramit Mukherjee, who are students of the college; and the college security guard, Pinaki Bandyopadhyay.
According to a police source quoted by news agency PTI, a medical examination revealed fresh nail-inflicted injuries on Monojit Mishra, which they said suggested the survivor fought back. “There are signs of injuries, precisely scratch marks, on the body of Monojit. These injuries are fresh. Such injuries happen when someone faces struggle or resistance,” the PTI source noted.
A medical examination of the survivor corroborated her allegations, with doctors documenting “forceful penetration, bite marks, and nail scratches” on her body. Additionally, CCTV footage from the campus allegedly showed the survivor being dragged by the accused into the college premises.
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