Comprehensive CCTV surveillance across the college campus was proposed.
Status: No additional CCTV cameras have been installed.
Appointment of ex-servicemen as security guards to strengthen campus safety was proposed.
Status: No new appointments have been made.
A committee for student safety was to be constituted.
Status: The committee has not been formed.
An inquiry into the alleged excess admissions in the college was announced.
Status: No inquiry has been conducted.
Thursday marks one year since a first-year student of South Calcutta Law College in Kasba was gang-raped, but several measures promised by the college authorities in the aftermath of the incident remain unfulfilled.
Following the incident, the college authorities announced plans to install around 77 CCTV cameras across the campus to strengthen surveillance and enhance security.
The college governing body had also decided to engage ex-servicemen as security guards to bolster safety measures on the campus.
“However, a year has passed, and none of these measures has been implemented,” said Nayna Chatterji, the vice-principal of the college.
An undergraduate student, who was among those who had protested against the lack of security on the campus in early July last year, said on Thursday that students still feel unsafe on the college premises.
A 24-year-old law student was gang-raped inside the college on the evening of June 24 last year. The prime accused, Monojit Mishra, a former student and then president of the college unit of the Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad, allegedly assaulted her while two other students were present.
The incident reignited concerns about the safety of women in educational institutions, coming less than a year after the rape and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in August 2024.
The law student was first assaulted inside the union room at the college in Kasba and later beaten with a hockey stick and raped inside the room of the security guard, who was allegedly coerced into stepping out and was made to sit outside during her ordeal.
The college authorities had announced plans to bring the entire campus under CCTV surveillance and engage ex-servicemen as security guards to strengthen security measures.
The college currently has only three CCTV cameras, all installed at the entrance gates in January 2023 after a first-year student was allegedly subjected to ragging by senior students.
“We had written to the higher education department last October during the tenure of the previous government, seeking funds to install CCTV cameras all over the campus. But as the funds were not sanctioned, cameras could not be installed,” vice-principal Chatterji said.
“We are planning to write to the new state government, requesting them to approve the proposal,” she added.
On the proposal to engage ex-servicemen as security guards, the vice-principal said: “It is true that the college governing body had resolved to appoint ex-army personnel as security guards. We floated a tender for the purpose, but received no applications. We have therefore engaged two private security guards through a security agency.”
The incident had such a profound impact on the first-year student that she sought a transfer to another college in September last year, saying she could no longer cope with the trauma of continuing her studies on the same campus.
On Thursday, the woman told Metro: “It was a disheartening experience for me to quit the college mid-way. It is as disheartening to know that the college has yet to install more CCTV cameras and engage ex-army personnel as security guards. This means safety and security continue to be an issue”.
“I hope the new state government takes effective steps to ensure that no woman has to undergo the kind of trauma that I experienced. I would also urge the new government to ensure that the trial in my case is expedited so that I get justice. The progress of the trial has been extremely slow,” she said.
An Alipore court on January 15 this year framed charges against the four men accused in the alleged gang rape. The trial commenced in late January, with the recording of witness depositions.
Monojit Mishra, Pramit Mukherjee and Zaib Ahmed — the two first-year students accused in the case — along with security guard Pinaki Banerjee, were charged under various sections relating to gang rape, common intention, abduction with intent to cause grievous hurt, wrongful confinement, destruction of evidence, voluntarily causing grievous hurt and criminal conspiracy.
An undergraduate student said they demanded that a committee be formed on students’ safety so that safety and security concerns were properly addressed.
“But like the CCTV cameras, this committee did not come into existence,” the student said.
“We have a grievance committee. Students can lodge complaints there,” the vice-principal said.
Calcutta University had also initiated a probe into allegations of an admission racket after claims surfaced that Mishra facilitated the enrolment of candidates who did not possess the required ranks for admission.
“We had provided all the information sought by the university regarding admissions. I am not aware of the current status of the probe,” the vice-principal said.