The Alipore court on Tuesday, July 22, raised a question mark about the government’s functioning if there were complaint cases filed previously. The court asked what the government was doing if there were at least 12 complaints lodged since 2023, which were mostly of molestation, against Monojit Mishra, the prime accused in the Kolkata Law College rape case.
Till august 5, the court has extended the judicial custody of Monojit Mishra and the other three accused. All four have been in custody since July 8.
During the hearing, the Monojit’s counsel didn’t plead for bail, instead merged two petitions to allow the presence of the counsels of the accused at the time of interrogation. It also demanded that the mobile phones of the complainant be seized. His counsel claimed that his client is being forced to confess to the allegation during his interrogation. “During his interrogation in jail, officials are pressuring Monojit to confess to all the allegations against him. We are not being allowed to speak to him. Therefore, I request the court to grant permission for meeting him in jail for two hours,” he submitted in the petition. He added, “It is called a correctional centre, but there are no proper amenities there. My client should have access to medical facilities, clean water, books, a pen, and a mosquito net. These should be provided to him.”
Pinaki Banerjee, a college security guard whose name has been also inked in the case as an accused. The counsel of Banerjee questioned whether the section invoked in the FIR was applicable in his client’s case. “I was taken in custody and tortured by the investigators. What was my role in the entire thing? I came to work that fateful night. I am just an employee. I could have been made a witness,” he said on behalf of Banerjee.
Bibash Chattopadhyay, the special public prosecutor, claimed that one person was standing outside the gate while the other was recording it. Through mobile location, it was revealed that all the accused were present at that spot while the crime was being committed.
“When the incident (alleged rape) was taking place, one person was standing guard outside while another was recording it. The guard should have secured the victim, but he instead worked in a manner that allowed the crime to be committed. From our investigation, we have observed from mobile locations that all the accused were present at the same spot at that time. There were 12 cases against Monojit Mishra, mostly of molestation. If he were punished at that time, this might not have happened”, Chattopadhyay said.
Sourin Ghosal, the chief public prosecutor, asserted that to meet with the accused, permission needs to be taken from the jail authorities. “Gait pattern to be done tomorrow. The chargesheet will be filed at the earliest and the government will go for trial,” Ghosal said.
The court responded that, “If the complaints are from 2023 what was the government doing?” Besides Monojit Mishra, a contractual staffer at the college and a TMC students’ wing functionary, and Pinaki Banerjee, the police have arrested Zaib Ahmed (19) and Pramit Mukherjee (20), both students, in connection with the June 25 incident.
A 24-year-old female student from South Calcutta Law College was allegedly raped and tortured in the guard’s room inside the college premises on June 25. Within a few days, on June 28, the Kolkata police arrested four accused: Monojit Mishra (31), a college alumnus and the staff, the current students Pramit Mukhopadhyay (20) and Zaib Ahmed (19), and Pinaki Banerjee (55), the college security guard who was on duty at that time.
During a court hearing, the public prosecutor revealed that when the survivor suffered a panic attack, an inhaler was brought, not out of concern, but so she could recover just enough to be brutalised again. The survivor in her complaint stated that after using the inhaler, she tried to escape but was dragged to the security room, where she was allegedly raped while the others recorded the assault.