Bengal on Saturday woke up to yet another allegation of ‘rape’, this time inside the hostel of Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta - a premier national business school. The police arrested a 2nd Year student on charges of “raping” a psychologist who had reportedly gone to meet the accused for providing a counseling session. The incident allegedly took place late on Friday noon, prosecution told the designated Alipore court at Kolkata while seeking a seven-day police remand for the accused.
The accused refused to speak while he was being taken to the court. His advocate cited a “number of discrepancies” related to the entire affair including the timing of rape, allegedly mentioned by the complainant and that of the FIR which was drawn by the Haridevpur Police Station some 5 km away from the Joka campus of IIM-C.
The Friday’s incident took place about two weeks after the gangrape inside the union room of the South Calcutta Law College and about 11 months after RG Kar Medical College rape and murder case --- both of which hit national headlines bringing much disrepute and embarrassment to the Mamata Banerjee Government.
The father of the victim too said that everything was normal with her daughter and “she was subjected to no torture or any misbehavior and has been absolutely fine.” The victim’s father also claimed that the injury she had suffered was due to a fall from an autorickshaw.
According to sources, the victim had entered the IIM-C campus at about 11.45 am on Friday allegedly without signing the visitors’ register. The victim, however, quoted as complaining that she was not allowed to sign the register. She was taken reportedly by the accused inside Lake View Hostel where she was allegedly raped inside room number 151.
According to the police, the ‘victim’ complained that she was treated to Pizza and some water after consuming which she passed out. Subsequently, when she came at about 8.35 pm she could realize “something” had been done to her, police sources said, adding a complaint was lodged by the ‘victim’ at the Haridevpur Police Station --- some 5 km away --- at about the same time at 8.35 pm when she reportedly recovered from her unconscious state.
Even as a section of the opposition BJP questioned the veracity of the alleged ‘rape’, the defense lawyers said, “how it can be possible that the girl recovered at 8.35 pm and the complaint was written at the same 8.35 pm in the police station which is 5 km away.”
They also questioned what the alleged victim was doing for 9 hours and “why the police would not conduct any medical examination between 8.35 pm on Friday and 4.30 pm on Saturday by when the accused was remanded to police custody.”
They also referred to the father of the victim who claimed that the complaint written by the girl was “influenced and dictated by someone.” He said that the ‘victim’ had gone to the IIM-C to submit some papers related to her studies whereas the police claimed that she had gone for a counseling session. He also said that the twosome were not in a relationship whereas the police claimed that they had come in contact through the social media.
Union junior minister for Education Sukanta Majumdar, meanwhile, said that he had asked the IIM-C authorities to file a report on the entire incident adding, the institution was also conducting an inquiry into the incident.
A war of words broke out between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress with the TMC spokesperson Debangshu Bhattacharya condemning the incident saying, “all these days the BJP and CPI(M) had been linking the Trinamool with such dirty acts in order to get political mileage … without realizing the fact that these are social bane and a part of disorders creeping into the society.”
BJP spokesperson Sankudeb Panda, however, attacked the TMC and the police for “creating” a situation so as to “humiliate” the premier central institution. “I don’t dismiss the charges … but there are a number of missing links and discrepancies that have to be answered by the police… at present it seems that there is a conspiracy being hatched against central institutions.”