A 20-year-old woman was allegedly gang-raped by two acquaintances during her birthday celebrations in Kolkata’s Regent Park area.

The incident took place in the Regent Park area in the southern outskirts of the city on Friday. The two accused went missing after the crime. One of them is reportedly a government employee, NDTV reported.

The Haridevpur Police in Kolkata received the complaint late Saturday night. The FIR has been registered under the relevant sections, and a search for the accused has begun. The incident occurred on Friday, but the complaint was filed the following night, reported Anandabazar.com.

Police sources said that on Friday, one of the accused invited the woman to celebrate her birthday and took her to the house of the other accused. There, she was allegedly gang-raped. After returning home, she informed her family and filed a complaint with the police.

A senior officer of Kolkata Police said, "The woman's birthday was on Friday, September 5. On that occasion, both the accused took the victim to a flat in the Regent's Park area in south Kolkata. There, they had a meal. It is alleged that when the girl wanted to return home, the accused stopped her. Then, it is alleged that they locked the door and gang-raped her. After the torture, the woman somehow managed to leave the flat and return home," NDTV reported.

In her complaint, the woman also said she was introduced to one of the accused several months ago. He introduced himself as the head of a large Durga Puja committee in south Kolkata. Through him, the survivor was introduced to the second accused, and the trio were in touch with one another.

The two accused promised to get her involved in the puja committee, she said in her complaint.

"The two accused have fled, and we are searching for them. The victim is being medically examined, and our officers are visiting the place where the crime took place," a police officer told The Times of India.

The incident has reignited concerns over women’s safety in Kolkata.

On June 25, a law student was allegedly raped on the South Calcutta Law College campus. The prime accused, alumnus Monojit Mishra, was later arrested. Mishra, a former Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) unit president, had been expelled from the student group two years earlier.

Last year, the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital sparked nationwide outrage. The accused, Sanjay Roy, a former civic police volunteer, was sentenced to life imprisonment earlier this year.

Kohima, Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Aizawl, Gangtok, Itanagar and Mumbai have emerged as the safest cities in the country for women, while Patna, Jaipur, Faridabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Srinagar and Ranchi were ranked the lowest, according to the National Annual Report & Index on Women's Safety (NARI) 2025.

The report placed Kolkata in the bottom tier of Indian cities for women’s safety.

Earlier The Telegraph Online, reported the experiences of women with public transport, family attitudes, and institutional responses.