Gangrape of law student: medical examination confirms serious assault

Kolkata: The medical examination corroborated a law college student's allegation that she was gangraped, PTI reported, citing police information.

The first-year student of South Calcutta Law College complained to the police that she was gangraped inside the institution by an alumnus and two senior students of the institution on the evening of June 25.

All three accused were arrested on Thursday. The medical examination of the 24-year-old woman was also conducted on the same day.

"The evidence corroborated what the victim alleged in her complaint lodged with the Kasba Police Station. There is evidence of forceful penetration, bite marks and nail scratches on her body," the officer told PTI.

Marks of assaults were also there on and around her neck, he said.

To a question, the officer said that the prime accused, an ex-student of the college and a practising criminal lawyer, raped her while the other two stood guard outside the room.

"According to a Supreme Court judgement, all persons in a group involved in cases of gang rape must be held liable, even if all of them did not commit the act of rape. In this case, two other persons helped in the rape. So this is a case of gang rape, and they are also accused in the case," Chief Police Prosecutor Sourin Ghosal told PTI.

The incident at the law college brought back the horrific memories of the rape and murder of an intern inside RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in north Kolkata in August last year.

In her written complaint to the police, the victim said she had gone to the college to fill out a form for a test and was forced to stay back in the union room even after it was completed.

"Then one of the three accused proposed to her to marry, but she refused, telling them she was already in a relationship," the police officer said.

Her ordeal lasted from 7.30 pm to 10.50 pm on June 25, the officer said.

At one point in time, she was unable to breathe properly and requested the accused to take her to a nearby private hospital. The plea fell on deaf ears, and the torture continued.

The woman said in the complaint that she then sought an inhaler, which they had brought from a medical store.

"She alleged that the two senior students present there had video recorded the rape on their mobile phones and threatened to leak it to social media if she approached the police," the officer said.

The ex-student was influential and made her the secretary of a women's organisation in the college, the victim claimed.