Mamata Banerjee on Sunday said women students “should not be allowed” to leave their campuses at night and “have to protect themselves”, making her first comments on Friday night’s alleged gang rape of a medical student in Durgapur.

The “patriarchal” remarks from a woman chief minister drew condemnation, with the Opposition accusing her of promoting regressive ideas to avoid having to admit a failure of law and order.

“How she came out (sic) in the night at 12.30? It happened, as far as I know, in the forest area,” Mamata told reporters at Calcutta airport before leaving for north Bengal.

“I am shocked to see the incident. But private medical colleges also take care of their students, specially the girl child in the nighttime. They should not be allowed to come out in the outside (sic). They have to protect themselves also.”

Police and the medical college authorities have said the incident took place
between 8.30pm and 9.30pm on Friday, and that the woman had returned to her hostel by 9.31pm.

The 23-year-old, a second-year student at a private medical college in Durgapur, had gone out for dinner with a male classmate. She was allegedly dragged to a wooded area close to the campus and gang-raped by the classmate and three others.

The woman, who is from Jaleswar in Odisha, is being treated at her medical college hospital. The male classmate has been detained.

Members of Abhaya Mancha demonstrate at the private hospital in Durgapur

Three other accused, all working-class local men, were arrested on Sunday. A Durgapur court has remanded them in 10 days’ police custody.

“I would request students coming from different states not to go outside (the campus) at night, because the police cannot always track who is going where. The private medical college also has a responsibility, as the police cannot guard every household,” Mamata said.

“….Everyone has the right to go anywhere. But for those staying in hostels, there is a system. I have told the police to take stringent action; nobody will be spared.”

After a political controversy broke out, the chief minister claimed her remarks had been distorted. She did not elaborate.

“I said something at Dum Dum airport but it was completely distorted. It can’t be that you ask me questions and then distort my comments later,” she told reporters in north Bengal.

“Don’t try to do such politics with me. I am someone who speaks to you (journalists). There are many who do not even talk to you and only answer prepared questions.”

Many, however, recalled how, after the RG Kar rape and murder in August last year, the Bengal government had issued a notification suggesting state-run hospitals avoid assigning night shifts to women doctors.

The directive drew wide criticism as a regressive measure that would deprive women of professional opportunities. It was later withdrawn following Supreme Court interve

“It’s become a regular thing for the government to issue such patriarchal statements,” political scientist Biswanath Chakraborty said.

He said many women do harbour “patriarchal attitudes, and Mamata’s comment on the Durgapur rape case proves that she too has failed to come out of similar attitudes”.

BJP workers block NH19 to protest against the gang rape of the medical student. Picture by Dipika Sarkar

The BJP and the CPM alleged that Mamata’s remarks were an indirect admission that the state’s law-and-order situation did not encourage women to move freely at night.

State BJP president Samik Bhattacharya accused Mamata of trying to cover up her government’s failures through “victim blaming”.

He said the chief minister’s comments were “not only insensitive but also extremely insulting” and “unacceptable in a civilised society”.

CPM central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said: “She (Mamata) is shifting the responsibility (of women students’ security) to the private medical college though the incident took place outside the campus. She claims Bengal is the safest state in the country — is this what women’s safety looks like?”

Mamata resorted to whataboutery, saying women faced assault also in BJP-ruled states, including the Durgapur student’s home state of Odisha.

“Three weeks ago in Odisha, three girls were raped on a sea beach. What action did the Odisha government take? We have seen many such incidents in Manipur, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha,” she said.

“Those governments should also take stringent action. In our state, we file chargesheets within one or two months. A lower court sentenced the accused in the RG Kar incident to death.”

The BJP has been protesting against the Durgapur incident in front of police stations across Bengal.

State BJP general secretary Locket Chatterjee arrived in Durgapur on Saturday but was prevented from meeting the survivor in hospital. BJP workers later blocked roads in Durgapur town.

The survivor’s father told reporters in Durgapur that he was dissatisfied with the security at the hospital and had requested local authorities to let him take his daughter to Bhubaneswar for further treatment.