BJP, Congress hold protests over 'gang rape' of medical student in Bengal's Durgapur

Kolkata, Oct 12 (PTI) The opposition BJP and the Congress on Sunday held protests in various places across West Bengal over the alleged gang rape of a medical student in Durgapur, seeking exemplary punishment of the accused.

Another opposition CPI(M) and the BJP questioned the law and order situation in West Bengal after the alleged incident, and claimed that the state is not safe for women.

Asserting that nobody involved in the alleged gang rape of a medical student at Durgapur on Friday will be spared, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged female boarders, especially those from outside the state, to follow hostel rules and not venture out late at night.

Three persons, all residents of Durgapur, have been arrested in connection with the crime.

CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty criticised Banerjee, saying that by asking female students not to venture out at night, she made it clear that West Bengal is not safe for women.

BJP supporters held a protest march and staged a sit-in outside the Asansol South police station.

Former BJP MP Locket Chatterjee went to the hospital in Durgapur, where the student was undergoing treatment, but was not allowed entry by police personnel.

The party also held a protest in front of the City Centre in Durgapur, the largest industrial city in the state.

The student of a private medical college in Durgapur, hailing from Odisha, was allegedly gang-raped on Friday night when she went out with a friend for dinner.

Women Congress workers also went to the hospital, demanding that they be allowed to speak with the authorities.

Left Front chairman Biman Bose demanded capital punishment for those found guilty.

Chakraborty, a former CPI(M) Lok Sabha MP, said, "By asking women students not to venture out at night, the chief minister has made it clear that Kolkata, the safest city, or Durgapur, a safe city, was a propaganda campaign.

"She has made it apparent that the state is now not safe for women," he claimed.

The CPI(M) leader alleged that West Bengal has become a safe haven for criminals.

Pointing to the chief minister's advice to female hostel boarders over venturing out at night-time, BJP's West Bengal unit president Samik Bhattacharya claimed that this is an "admission" that there is "no law and order" in the state.

"Does she (Mamata Banerjee) have any moral right to sit in the chief minister's chair or hold the police minister's post?" he asked.

Claiming that the people of the state are "disgusted" with the Trinamool Congress government in Bengal, Bhattacharya said that law and order will return in the state only when this dispensation is voted out.

The assembly elections in West Bengal are due in 2026.

Members of Abhaya Mancha, a forum formed after the rape-murder of a doctor at Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in 2024, and the Senior Doctors’ Association also visited Durgapur to express solidarity with the survivor's family. PTI AMR MNB BDC