A first-year student of a prominent Kolkata College lodged a police complaint alleging that he was “stripped naked” by former students inside the student union room. The incident, which reportedly took place on May 17, was filmed on camera and circulated to make fun of the junior student.
The video showed the student pleading for mercy even as his clothes were forcibly removed in front of a group of people. In the video, the victim is seen running across the room, desperately trying to cover himself and begging for help.
The victim, who was a member of Trinamool Congress Chatra Parishad, said he was thrashed by some senior members of the students’ wing, when he asked them about the expenses incurred for arranging an upcoming fest in the college.
In his complaint, the victim said, “The college unit president Arnab Ghosh and an outsider Inamul Haq, physically and mentally tortured me. While doing so, they also shot objectionable videos and photographs of me without my permission. When I asked Arnab about the expenditure list, he along with another person, Avijit Dolui assaulted me and shared the videos with my friends and colleagues in college.”
He added, “all three offenders were drunk and I want a strict punishment for them. I was forced to parade naked.”
According to a report in the The Times of India report, the victim also carried out a failed suicide attempt out of humiliation.
Speaking to News18, he said, “I was in trauma for the last few days, but finally decided to lodge a police complaint yesterday (Saturday) after I saw my videos being shared with other students. I was shocked and decided to lodge a complaint,” the victim told News18.
West Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee has said that “strict action” will be taken against anyone found involved in the act.
“If the allegations were found to be true in the inquiry report of the college, the government will show ‘zero tolerance’ to such misconduct,” he told reporters on Sunday.
TMCP state president Jaya Dutta said she will discuss the matter with the college authorities and TMCP members of North Kolkata unit before taking a call on the matter.
