The authorities of South Calcutta Law College have whitewashed the wall on campus that read “Monojit dada (alluding to Monojit Mishra, the prime accused in the alleged gang rape of a 24-year-old law student on the campus) is in our hearts”.
A college governing body member said the wall was whitewashed last Thursday as it was turning out to be an embarrassment for them to have the name of someone, who was arrested in June following his involvement in the alleged gang rape of a first-year student, written on the college wall.
The incident happened on June 25 this year.
Mishra, a former TMCP unit president of the college and a casual staffer, is still behind bars.
Police have chargesheeted him and two other first-year students and a private security guard following their alleged involvement.
“In a meeting of the governing body held before the Puja, it was resolved that the wall will be whitewashed,” said a governing body member.
The father of the first-year student who has recently left the college had said in September that it was “shocking” that the college authorities had yet to whitewash the wall.
The whitewashed wall had “Monojit Dada is in our hearts. (Team MM)” written on it.
The writing suggested the clout that Mishra, a former student of the law and a casual staffer — who was sacked by the governing body on July 1 following instructions from the education department officials — wielded, said a college teacher.
Although he was arrested five times by the various city police stations following his involvement in cases of assault and damaging property, Mishra was appointed as a casual staffer on a daily wage by the college governing body in July 2024.
He was arrested for the sixth time on June 26 this year.
Metro carried accounts of many students who opened their mouths after the June 25 incident, narrating how Mishra harassed them and alleged that the college authorities did nothing to protect them from him.
“It’s a shame for us that the first-year student had to quit the college. The college authorities should have whitewashed the wall immediately after the incident. We don’t know why it took them so long,” the teacher said.
Calls and text messages by this newspaper to vice-principal Nayna Chatterji on Sunday did not yield any response.
A college teacher said that whitewashing the wall was “not enough”.
According to the teacher, the college authorities must also focus on setting up more CCTV cameras on the campus to enhance the safety and security of the campus and earn the confidence of the students
“The 12 cameras that the police had set up on the campus after the June 25 incident were dismantled last week. The college now has only three CCTV cameras that were installed in January 2023. The governing body had resolved to set up 70 CCTV cameras to enhance security,” said the teacher.