Kolkata college student rape case: Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee’s comments spark outrage

Senior Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee’s comments on the Kolkata law student’s rape have sparked widespread outrage and criticism among the Opposition and the common people of West Bengal. Bhartiya Janta Party said the comments were made “in favour of the rapists” and “shameful.”

“If a friend rapes another friend, then how will the government authorities provide protection in such cases? Do you want to deploy police in educational institutions? Police cannot be in every corner,” Mr. Banerjee said. He further stated that women’s safety is at stake because of the mentality of men. 

The senior MP from Serampore said that male colleagues should stay vigilant and save their female colleagues. “Some perverted persons are committing such crimes. Strong action should be taken against them. On the other hand, women should also stand against such crimes,” Mr. Banerjee added. He also said that everyone should ensure the safety of female students and all the perpetrators should be arrested immediately.

Responding to these comments, BJP’s West Bengal wing said that “In Kasba, a college student has been gang-raped by a TMC leader and his gang. But TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee calls women’s safety concerns a mere “political agenda.” BJP spokesperson Amit Malviya shared Mr. Banerjee’s video and called it “insensitive.” “He trivialised the crime by saying it was committed by “classmates.”

“So rape by classmates is acceptable now? If this government claims it has no role in ensuring safety inside educational institutions, then what is the point of having a government at all?” Mr. Malviya said in a social media post.

This development comes after a rape allegation by a female law student from the South Calcutta Law College sent shockwaves across the State on June 27. The survivor alleged that she was sexually assaulted inside the college premises by three people. 

Within a few hours of the allegation, it came to light that one of the prime accused in the case is Monojit Mishra, a 31-year-old student leader of the TMC. TMC leadership, such as Trinankur Bhattacharya, State president of the Trinamool student wing, said that they are not denying their past association with the accused, but that does not define the party and its stand.

But senior leaders including Firhad Hakim, Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, said Mishra is in no way associated with the TMC. “They might be supporters, but they had no relation to the TMC. Anyone who does TMC based on ideals can never commit such crimes,” Mr. Hakim said.

The prime accused, Mishra is said to be an influential character in the college even though he passed out a few years back. Many images of Mishra with senior political leaders have also surfaced online. This had already started severe backlash from the Opposition with many blaming the Mamata Banerjee-led government for the incident.

Protests erupted across Kolkata on Friday (June 27, 2025) after the three men were arrested. Students and political parties took to the streets to raise slogans in solidarity with the victim and against the abusers.