Medical Student From Odisha, Out For Dinner With Friend, Gangraped In Bengal’s Durgapur

Police officers survey the area of the crime where a medic was allegedly gangraped by unidentified men. (IMAGE: SOURCED)

A medical student hailing from Odisha’s Jaleshwar was allegedly raped by unidentified men in West Bengal’s Paschim Bardhaman district. The survivor’s kin said that the incident happened outside the campus of a private medical college in Durgapur on Friday night when the second-year student went out with one of her friends for dinner.

The student is now undergoing treatment at a nearby hospital, police officials said.

“On the basis of a complaint lodged by the family members of the medic, we have started an investigation,” the officials said.

The survivor’s kin said that they reached Durgapur this morning after getting a call from their daughter’s friends.

The student’s mother alleges that her daughter was “gang-raped” around 10 pm on Friday when she went out of the college campus with one of her friends for dinner.

“We came here this morning and lodged a complaint with the police. I have heard that the college performed well academically, and this is why we sent our daughter to study medicine here,” the student’s father said.

Sources told News18 that the state health department has sought a report from the concerned medical college regarding the incident. The private hospital in Durgapur has been directed to submit the report to the Director of Medical Education.

The preliminary probe conducted by the police revealed that the student went outside the campus with her friend around 8-8.30 pm on Friday.

“The friend left her alone when three unidentified men arrived there. The men snatched her phone and took her to a jungle outside the campus, where they raped her. She was threatened with dire consequences if she told anyone about the incident,” the officer said, according to a report by news agency PTI.

The accused also demanded money from the survivor to return her mobile phone, he said. The officer said that the statement of the student has been recorded.

“We spoke to the victim’s friend last night. We are trying to find out some CCTV footage. A forensic team will visit the spot to collect evidence,” the officer said.

A team of the National Commission for Women (NCW) is heading towards Durgapur to meet the victim and her parents.

“Crime against women is on the rise in Bengal. The police are not taking any proactive steps in such cases. This is quite unfortunate. I will request the chief minister to come forward and work in tandem to arrest the rise of such crimes,” NCW member Archana Majumdar said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) attacked the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government over the incident. “West Bengal is not safe for women. Until the TMC government is held accountable, women across the state will continue to live in fear,” BJP spokesperson Amit Malviya wrote on X.

(with additional inputs from PTI)