Durgapur ‘gang rape’: Mamata Banerjee falsely claims crime occurred at 12:30 am; asks why victim stepped out so late

While speaking to reporters at the Kolkata airport on October 12 on the alleged ‘gang rape’ of a medical student in Durgapur, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee claimed that the alleged assault took place at 12.30 am and asked why the victim was out of the campus so late.

The second-year MBBS student, originally from Odisha, was allegedly gang-raped on Friday, October 10, evening outside the institute campus in Durgapur, about 170 km from Kolkata. At the time of this report being written, three individuals were arrested in the case, identified as Apu Bauri (21), Firdous Shiekh (23), and Sheikh Riazuddin (32).

Coming close on the heels of the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at the RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata in August 2024 and the alleged rape of a student at the South Calcutta Law College in June this year, the Durgapur incident saw all Opposition parties coming down heavily on the Mamata Banerjee-government.

When asked to comment about the incident before she boarded a flight for flood-hit north Bengal, Banerjee urged private colleges to take responsibility of their students’ safety. Her words, which immediately triggered an outrage from the Opposition, were as follows:

“….if in Bengal anything happens to women, we do not allow anything to be considered as a casual case. It’s a serious case we consider. And that girl.. it’s shocking.. she was studying in a private medical college. So all the private medical college.. whose responsibility? How they came out in the night at 12.30? And it happens in the… so far I know… in the forest area. At 12.30… I do not know what happened. Investigation is on. I am shocked to see the incident. But private medical colleges also should take care for their students. And specially the girl child… at night time… they should not be allowed to come out in the outside. They have to protect themselves also…” (sic)

She also said, “Nobody will be excused. Whoever is guilty will be strictly punished.”

Did the Alleged Crime Occur at 12:30 am?

Multiple sources confirm that the alleged gang rape occurred between 8 and 9.30 pm on October 10.

1. Press Release by the medical college:

The institute where the survivor was a second-year MBBS student published a press note detailing the timing of the incident based on CCTV footage available with them.

According to the statement, the survivor left the campus for dinner with another student around 7:58 pm. Following this, “One of them returned at 8:42 pm, but after loitering around the main exit area for around 5-6 minutes, he stepped out again at about 8:48 pm. The two then returned together at 9:29 p.m. The female student proceeded toward the Girls Hostel at around 9:31 pm. Later, it came to light that the female student, while she was outside campus, bad endured an assault — an occurrence she has herself claimed and reported.”

2. Police complaint by survivor’s father

Alt News accessed the police complaint submitted by the student’s father at New Township police station under Asansol-Durgapur Commissionerate on October 11, on the basis of which a case (No. 131/25 dated 11.10.2025) under section 70(1)/3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita was lodged. The complaint was signed as ‘Received’ by an officer at the station.

According to the complaint, the alleged assault took place a little after 8 pm on October 10. Alt News is in possession of the document but we won’t publish it in the interest of the survivor and the investigation.

3. In an interview, the survivor’s father mentioned that time of the incident as around 9-9:30 pm. He said a friend of her daughter took her near the gate for eating ‘gupchup’ (panipuri) when two or three more people arrived. “Seeing this, the friend fled leaving the girl alone. She was raped after this.”

 

To sum up, the claim by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee that the victim had stepped out of the college campus at 12.30 in the night is false. In a conversation with media persons on October 12, she mentioned at least twice that the alleged assault had taken place at 12.30 am.

The post Durgapur ‘gang rape’: Mamata Banerjee falsely claims crime occurred at 12:30 am; asks why victim stepped out so late appeared first on Alt News.

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