The chairperson of the state women’s commission said on Sunday that officials are attempting to speak with the woman who was allegedly raped by a second-year student of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta in the boys’ hostel on Friday, but the survivor’s family appears reluctant to engage.
The commission filed a suo motu complaint with Kolkata Police on Saturday regarding the alleged incident. Police are also trying to contact the woman, a 24-year-old counsellor, to further their investigation, according to an officer involved in the probe.
“We want to meet the woman and we are waiting, but it appears that the family is
not comfortable,” said Leena Gangopadhyay, chairperson of the West Bengal Commission for Women. “We filed a suo motu complaint with Kolkata Police on Saturday.”
Paramanand Mahaveer Toppannawar, a second-year IIM Calcutta student hailing from Karnataka, was arrested shortly after midnight on Friday after the woman alleged he had raped her. The 26-year-old, also referred to as Paramanand Jain, was taken into custody from the boys’ hostel around midnight on Saturday.
The Karnataka student is accused of inviting the woman to his room in the Lake View Hostel on Friday morning, where he allegedly spiked her drink with sedatives before assaulting her. The woman subsequently filed a complaint with police.
Paramanand has been remanded in police custody until July 19.
Commission’s role
Commission officials explained that they must approach the police when seeking to meet rape survivors. “The details of place and location of the women are not with the commission,” an official explained.
On Sunday afternoon, commission chairperson Gangopadhyay met with Rahul De, deputy commissioner of the southwest division of Kolkata Police, to discuss the case’s progress. The commission has requested a police report on the incident, which is standard procedure.
“The police are supposed to submit to the commission a report of the investigation that they are carrying out,” said an official of the commission.
If the commission finds the police report satisfactory, they will accept it. However, if unsatisfied, the commission can demand a re-investigation and evaluate whether the complainant accepts the police action.
Law college case
The women’s commission chairperson and her team recently met with a 24-year-old woman from South Calcutta Law College in Kasba following an alleged gang- rape on that campus on the evening of June 25.
The commission submitted recommendations to the government’s women and child development and social welfare department, including allowing the woman to transfer to another law college if desired, ensuring her long-term safety and security, and preventing unnecessary delays in the case.
Four persons have so far been arrested for the alleged gang-rape at the law college. They are Monojit Mishra, 31, a former student with links to the Trinamool Congress, two current students, Pramit Mukherjee, 20, and Zaib Ahmed, 19, and Pinaki Banerjee, 55, a security guard who allegedly allowed his room to be used for the crime and failed to report it. All four are in judicial custody till July 22.
