B-school campus rape triggers political slugfest

Kolkata: A fresh political slugfest erupted between Trinamool and opposition parties after yet another incident of rape within an educational campus was reported in Kolkata on Saturday.BJP was the first to mount an attack on Congress, which took out the day's first demonstration outside the management institute campus gate where the incident allegedly happened, calling them the ‘B' team of TMC."An incident of assault occurred at a national institute and Congress immediately went there to protest. In the state, Congress acts as TMC's ‘B' team. The accused has no connection with our state or party. Police have acted swiftly and TMC is highlighting that the incident took place at a central institution, not a state-run college," said BJP functionary Shankudeb Panda.TMC general secretary Kunal Ghosh asked political parties to exercise caution before making conclusive remarks on this matter."The place where the incident took place is a central institution, not a state-run one. Proper security measures should have been in place. Now, the girl's father is saying that no torture took place. Earlier, we heard the opposition allege that ‘they [family] were forced to write that nothing had happened'. Now (it is being alleged that) Trinamool forced to write that something had happened? There has to be a sense in all this," said Ghosh.CPM's Md Salim said that the state was suffering from a "lack of security". "The management institute is a prestigious institution... this is not acceptable," he said.Congress's Adhir Chowdhury demanded exemplary punishment for all such rape complaints. "Educational institutions in Bengal are gradually becoming places dominated by perpetrators. Without exemplary punishment, it will be difficult to stop this contagion," he said.SUCI, SFI and DYFI held rallies in front of the institution and Haridevpur police station.