Kolkata law college gangrape survivor to appear for semester exams

Kolkata law college gang-rape case

Nearly three weeks after being sexually assaulted on her college campus, the first-year South Calcutta Law College student in Kolkata has received her first-semester examination admit card. The admit card was issued to her along with those of 197 other students; however, she did not collect it in person from the college, The Times of India reported. The exam is scheduled to begin on Wednesday.

The incident occurred on June 25, the same day the student and her classmates had gone to fill out their forms for the semester exams. She was allegedly subjected to three hours of torture and sexual assault on the college campus.

Following the incident, three individuals were arrested for the crime, namely, Monojit Mishra, a former student and temporary employee at the college, and two current students, Zaib Ahmed and Pramit Mukherjee. They were taken into custody near the college just a day after the assault.

Since then, the survivor has been under trauma and emotional stress. Her family had initially stated that she was not in the right mental state to appear for the upcoming examinations.

However, the West Bengal Commission for Women chairperson, Leena Gangopadhyay, personally urged the family to encourage her to appear for the exam. Gangopadhyay emphasised that her sitting for the exam would be a step toward reclaiming her agency and would send a strong message to other survivors of violence.

“I wanted her to appear for the exam from the bottom of my heart, and if she gains the courage to take the exam, it will set an example for other survivors who are fighting for justice. I hope she will appear for the exam because she is not the one who should be ashamed; the person who did wrong should be ashamed. She is a fighter,” TOI quoted Gangopadhyay as saying.

A senior official from the state’s higher education department said that ‘all necessary arrangements have been made’ to ensure she can write her papers ‘comfortably and with an adequate sense of security’.

Meanwhile, one of her classmates said, “We all want her to appear for the exam because she filled out her examination form, so why should she not appear for the exam? Her roll number was marked with a different colour, why we don’t know. We are all hoping that she will appear for the exam.”