By Diana George Pooja Mehta
A 24-year-old law student from a Kolkata college has alleged in a police complaint that she suffered a panic attack moments before being raped by an alumnus and two students on campus. The accused allegedly used her medical distress to trap her further—bringing her an inhaler, locking the college gate to prevent her escape, and then dragging her to a different room where the assault was carried out and filmed. The survivor said the main accused, Monojit Mishra, initially tried to coerce her into sex. “I denied and fought back by not letting him do anything and pushing him back. I continuously cried and asked him to let me go,” she wrote in her complaint, adding that she pleaded with him, saying, “I had a boyfriend and I loved him.” As she resisted, the complaint says, she began to experience breathing difficulties. “And after that for all these, I had a panic attack and (started) having shortness of breath… I asked them to take me to Ruby General Hospital. Then I told them at least to bring an inhaler for me. ‘M’ (Zaib) bought that,” she recounted. After taking the inhaler and feeling a little better, the woman says she attempted to flee, but found the gate locked. “I packed my things and went outside to escape and saw that they have locked the main gate and guard was helpless and did not help,” her statement says. She alleges that she was then dragged to the union room by co-accused Zaib Ahmed and Pramit Mukhopadhyay. In a desperate attempt to stop the assault, she says she “touched Monojit’s feet and begged him to let me go”. According to her, Monojit then told the others to take her to the guard’s room and make the guard sit outside — a detail that police later confirmed through CCTV footage. It was there, she says, that Monojit raped her while the other two recorded the act. “When I fought back, he blackmailed me, threatened me which he was doing from before. He threatens me that he will kill my boyfriend and he will arrest my parents (sic),” the complaint reads. The woman also says Monojit used recorded videos of the assault to continue intimidating her. “He shown me two videos of mine being naked when he raped me. He threatened me to show everyone this videos if I don’t cooperate and if I don’t come whenever he calls me (sic),” she wrote. She described trying to fight him off even after suffering a head injury during the assault. “I was fighting for life. He also tried to hit me with a hockey stick. I just let myself (be) like a dead body.” After the incident, she managed to leave the college and called her father to come pick her up. She says Monojit warned her not to speak out. “He threatened me to stay mum.” The case has raised serious questions not only about campus safety but also political protection. Monojit Mishra is reportedly linked to the Trinamool Congress, prompting the Opposition to accuse the ruling party of enabling such impunity. The Trinamool Congress has responded by stating that the accused will face consequences “irrespective of political links.” CCTV footage obtained by the police reportedly confirms that the student was dragged toward the room where the incident took place. Separately, media reports have tracked down the pharmacy from where Zaib Ahmed bought the inhaler. The staff confirmed the purchase around the time the survivor mentioned in her complaint. The case comes less than a year after the brutal rape and murder of a woman doctor at RG Kar Medical College, another state-run institution in West Bengal.