Kasba law student gangrape: Court reserves order on prime accused's bail; next hearing on Dec 2

Kolkata, Nov 29 The judge of a trial court in Kolkata on Saturday reserved the order on the bail petition filed by Monojit Mishra, the prime accused in the gangrape of a law student of the South Kolkata Law College (New Complex) inside the college premises earlier this year.

The trial court judge, Souvik Dey, reserved the order after a detailed hearing in which counsels for both the accused and the victim presented their arguments. The next hearing in the matter will be on December 2, when it is expected that the judge will pronounce the order.

On Saturday, the defence counsel for Mishra argued that what transpired with the law-college student was not a case of rape but a development following mutual consent. The defence also claimed that, in the past, the victim had made a similar allegation and later withdrawn her complaint on that count.

In his counterargument, the victim’s counsel maintained that the example cited by the defence could not be treated on a par with the crime of gangrape. Referring to the statement given by the victim, the counsel for the victim narrated the seriousness of the offence committed against her.

Both the victim’s counsel and the prosecution opposed the bail plea of the prime accused.

There are four accused in the case. Mishra, a former student of the same college and then a contractual staff member with the institute, is the prime accused, the alleged perpetrator of the crime of raping the victim.

Two erstwhile students of the college, Jaib Ahmed and Pramit Mukhopadhyay, who were rusticated after the event, have been identified as facilitators in the crime.

The fourth accused, Pinaki Banerjee, a security guard of the law college who, according to the statement recorded by the victim with the police immediately after the incident on the evening of June 25, was the “sole helpless” witness to the crime, was granted bail last month.

Mishra, Ahmed and Mukhopadhyay were actively involved with the students’ wing of the Trinamool Congress.

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