In a deeply disturbing incident that has once again underscored the worsening state of women’s safety in educational institutions, a law student in South Kolkata’s Kasba area has alleged that she was lured, confined, and raped inside the guard room of her college on the evening of June 25.
The alleged incident occurred between 7:30 pm and 8:50 pm, and has sent shockwaves through the city, still reeling from last year’s gruesome rape and murder of a trainee doctor inside the RG Kar Medical College campus.
The trauma was compounded when police confirmed that three individuals had been arrested on Thursday night in connection with the assault. While the Kasba police have refrained from disclosing the identities of the accused, they have been referred to as “M” (the main accused), “J,” and “P.” Mobile phones of all three have been seized and sent for forensic testing.
The most troubling aspect of the case is that M, the primary accused, is not an outsider. A former student of the same college, he graduated in 2022 and has remained a regular presence on campus, now working as a practising lawyer at Alipore Court.
More significantly, he had been employed as a temporary staffer at the college for the last six to seven months — appointments which, as confirmed by the college’s vice-principal, are made on recommendations from the governing body led by Trinamool Congress MLA Ashok Deb.
The accused also reportedly held a position in the college union as a member of the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) during his student years. TMCP’s state president, Trinankur Bhattacharya, has issued a statement saying that the law will take its course “irrespective of political affiliations,” but many see this as damage control amid rising concerns of political patronage shielding perpetrators of campus violence.
According to police sources, M had called the victim to the campus under a pretext, and then — with the assistance of his accomplices — led her to a room where she was raped.
The two co-accused, both current students of the college, were arrested from a park near Talbagan crossing following the filing of the complaint. Based on their interrogation, M was later tracked and arrested as well. All three are expected to be produced in a city court, while forensic teams are preparing to visit the scene of the crime.
The survivor has been sent for medical examination at Calcutta National Medical College and Hospital, and her statement will likely be central to further investigation.
This horrific episode has triggered public outrage, drawing painful parallels with last year’s brutal case involving the rape and murder of a post-graduate medical student on the premises of RG Kar Medical College.
That case had sparked months-long protests across Bengal and was seen as a glaring example of the complete breakdown of safety mechanisms for women in educational and medical institutions.
This latest case now raises critical and uncomfortable questions: How safe are our college campuses for women? How can individuals with past affiliations to student politics and access to administrative power remain embedded in the very spaces meant to educate and protect students?
And what systems are in place to ensure survivors get justice swiftly and without intimidation?
The fact that a young woman was assaulted in a space that should have been her institutional sanctuary, by individuals closely linked to the college administration, reflects the deep structural flaws in how safety is treated, often as an afterthought or mere protocol.
With former students turning into temporary staff with renewable 45-day contracts, and appointments being politically influenced, the blurred lines between academic life and political interference only further complicate justice and accountability.
Civil society activists and student groups have already begun calling for independent safety audits of campuses, gender sensitisation, and depoliticisation of student unions, which often act with impunity under the patronage of ruling parties.
What this incident tragically reinforces is a reality that far too many women in India live with daily — the fear that even so-called “safe spaces” like colleges, hospitals, or hostels can become zones of vulnerability.
It also shows that despite the horror and outrage of previous cases, the cycle of silence, complicity, and delayed justice continues, leaving women to constantly navigate danger in places where their aspirations should have taken flight.