A first-year student of South Calcutta Law College said it was an irony that an alleged gang-rape was committed by a lawyer inside a law college.

The college reopened on Monday after being shut for a week, and this student was among those who came to fill out the application form for the first-semester exams, scheduled to start on July 16.

Monojit Mishra, the prime accused in the alleged gang-rape, was a practising criminal lawyer at the Alipore court till his licence was revoked by the West Bengal Bar Council.

Excerpts from what first-year student Pallab Lodh told Metro:

What happened is despicable. Such a lowly crime shakes you from within more than it makes you feel scared.

It is an irony that a lawyer raped a law student on a law college campus. All I can say is that this irony is twisted. I just wonder how it will impact prospective students.

They will remain in fear, they will feel terrified because of this incident.

There is a large police presence all around. As we produced the college identity card before the security guard, we could see cops standing next to him, also looking at the ID.

Does it look good to see so many cops on the campus?

This is not a badge of honour. It only goes to show how deplorable the condition is. If only a part of the security that we see now had been provided earlier, this horrifying incident could have been avoided.

As I was walking past the union room, now guarded by several cops, I felt so helpless. This is the spot where one of us was tortured.

We have to study at this college for the next four years. We have to keep coming because this involves our careers. As we pursue our studies, we must pass on this message to first-year students — that this ghastly incident does not define us.

What the three did does not define us. (Mishra was arrested with two second-year students, Pramit Mukherjee, 20, and Zaib Ahmed, 19, who allegedly videographed the rape.)

This incident does not define the college and does not define all of us.

We have to come out of this infamous chapter. For this, we have to bring a change in the mindset of students, irrespective of whether we have a student union or not.

The college administration has to play a proactive role so we can put this chapter behind us. We are hopeful of doing this together.