West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee's comments after an alleged gang-rape of a 23-year-old MBBS student in Durgapur has triggered a fierce political row , with BJP spokesperson Amit Malviya accusing the CM of misleading the public about the details of the case.
On Sunday, Mamata Banerjee, other than advising that girls should not go out at night, also quoted the time when the victim went out of the college premises at 12.30 a.m., which contradicted the exit timing recorded with the private medical college.
Malviya, in a post on X, claimed that Banerjee “lied" about the victim being out of her college campus at 12:30 a.m., asserting that the girl had, in fact, left at 8 p.m. “The truth is that, as per IQ City Medical College & Hospital, the girl went out at 8 p.m., which is a decent hour by any standard," he wrote.
The medical college authorities, quoting their records, claimed that the victim student stepped out of the college premises at 8 p.m. to have food, and thereafter was raped by three men in a nearby forested area.
“The girl student, a Dalit, was not gang raped inside the college campus. Hence, the responsibility of ensuring her safety rests with the police and state administration. The Chief Minister tried to put the blame on the medical college,” Malviya said in his statement.
The sexual assault survivor at Durgapur in Paschim Bardhaman district is an MBBS student at a private medical college. The student, who hails from Odisha, had reportedly gone out of the college with a male friend on Friday night (October 10, 2025). She was reportedly gang-raped by unidentified men near the college campus.
According to officials, the student was allegedly gang-raped late Friday evening in a forested area behind the hospital after she stepped out of the campus with a male friend around 8 p.m. The survivor's father alleged that her male companion fled during the assault.
The West Bengal Police have arrested three men -- Sheikh Riaz Uddin (31), Sheikh Firdaush (23), and Appu Bouri (21) -- all local residents in connection with the case. They have been remanded in police custody for 10 days, while two other accused are still absconding.
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