'How Many Abhayas Will it Take?': Durgapur Rape Case Revives Old Ghosts for TMC

While RG Kar protests were largely rooted in justice, the Durgapur case has got a communal twist in pre-poll Bengal.

The latest rape case at Durgapur has not only exposed significant lapses in the state's security framework but also raised questions about the validity of crime data surveys.

(Photo: Altered by Vibhushita Singh/The Quint)

Even as many in the capital city of West Bengal were celebrating Kolkata's 'safest city' tag for a fourth consecutive year last week on social media, yet another case of sexual violence in nearby Durgapur, about 200 km from the capital, seems to have cast aspersions on the authenticity of the status.

On Friday evening at around 8 pm, a student in her early twenties from Odisha, studying at a private medical college in Durgapur had stepped out of the campus with a classmate for a meal. According to allegations, five local youths dragged her into roadside bushes and gang-raped her.

The case was an immediate reminder of the gruesome rape and murder of an on-duty doctor at RG Kar Medical College Hospital last year and the gang rape of a student at a law college in south Kolkata earlier this year. Ironically, Kolkata has been recognised as the safest city for four consecutive years. Recently, data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reaffirmed this distinction.

The latest rape case at Durgapur has not only exposed significant lapses in the state's security framework but also raised questions about the validity of such surveys.

Five Accused Arrested 

West Bengal Police had previously arrested three suspects primarily. They were produced in court on Sunday, where the judge remanded them to 10 days of police custody. Subsequently, two more suspects were apprehended—late on Sunday night and during Monday afternoon. Additionally, one of the complainant's classmates remains in detention.

Early Tuesday morning, the arrested individuals were taken to the crime scene for reconstruction. One of the detainees has confessed to the rape, police sources confirmed to The Quint. The accused's clothing has been forwarded for forensic analysis.

Meanwhile, the complainant was scheduled to provide a confidential statement to the magistrate at Durgapur Sub-Divisional Court on Tuesday. During a press conference on Monday, Asansol-Durgapur Police Commissioner Sunil Chowdhury revealed that he had personally met and spoken with the complainant's father. He assured that the administration would extend all possible support to the family.

The complainant's father told The Quint:

"In the initial days, I received no support from the state administration. Only now after media attention have they begun to take action. My daughter is physically somewhat stable, but the trauma runs deep”.

The complainant's father

He also added that the tuition fee at the Durgapur college cost Rs 1.13 crore, of which the family has already paid Rs 80 lakh. "But where is the security we were promised? Who is responsible?" The family was paid a visit by the Governor on Monday. "Three ministers from Odisha have been constantly reaching out to me. This is a matter of Odisha's honour—it is the honour of the entire nation," he said.

And yet, the family says that though it will continue its fight for justice, they will move out of Durgapur.

"I will leave this place with my daughter. How many more girls like my daughter, like 'Abhaya' (as the victim of the RG Kar rape case was later named) will have to endure such violence before this injustice ends? That's the only question I have. Abhaya's mother called me personally. We will not back down; we will fight till the end."

Complainant's Father

No Learning from Mistakes

Once the incident came to light, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asked, "How did they (the complainant) go out at 12:30 am? Whose responsibility is the private college? They need to keep an eye on their students. Especially in the case of girls, they should not be allowed to go out at night."

Her remarks—widely viewed as victim-blaming, echoing her statements in the 2012 Park Street rape case—have sparked outrage from the state's civil society and opposition parties. Members of Abhaya Manch, formed as a politically neutral protest forum during the RG Kar movement, have been asking in televised debates if it is it mandatory for women to remain confined at home at night to prevent rape. Does the night then belong to rapists? And do such crimes not occur during the day in the state?

Dr Punyabrata Gun, Joint convenor of Abhaya Manch alleged that Mamata Banerjee had been persistently making insensitive comments, ever since coming to power three terms ago.

“Every citizen in our country has the fundamental right to move freely anywhere at any time. A woman should be able to step out whenever and wherever she wishes—whether to dine out, take a stroll, or pursue any activity. The failure to prevent attacks on her underscores a grave administrative lapse. In a modern society, such regressive prescriptions are untenable.

Dr Punyabrata Gun, Joint Convenor, Abhaya Manch

"Can female nurses, doctors, and journalists be barred from night duties?" he asked. "Women delivered a strong response during the RG Kar incident, and they will do so again. The Reclaim the Night protests will emerge again."

Women's Safety: Politics & Pre Poll Optics

The Durgapur rape incident has come to light at a time when all political parties in West Bengal are preparing for elections and are looking for issues. The issue of sexual violence has been potent since the RG Kar incident, which brought a large part of the state to the streets in protest. Many, including the victim's family, feel 'Abhaya' did not get justice.

Satabdi Das, a prominent feminist social activist and a key figure in the Reclaim the Night movement since the Abhaya case, voiced concerns about the recurring nature of such crimes, but noted a key difference between this case and the earlier ones.

"During RG Kar protests, one side attempted to suppress the rape, while the main Opposition party (BJP) sought to exploit it for political gain. The narrative couldn't be shaped around religious lines as the accused were not from the minority community, limiting the BJP's ability to capitalise on it."

Satabdi Das, Women's Rights Activist

Yet, all parties pursued their own political agendas, sidestepping critical discussions on rape culture, victim-blaming, and administrative failures. "Their focus was on leveraging these incidents for regime change, which our movement fundamentally opposed," Das alleged.

For the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Durgapur incident seems to have become a ‘political boon’. West Bengal opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari hastily revealed the identities of those accused of rape on his X handle on 12 October, pointing out that all accused were Muslim.

This, in fact, is not true, as one of the accused is not-Muslim (his name is not mentioned in the tweet). While the BJP has covertly tried to give a communal spin to the incident, there are indeed five accused and not four, as confirmed to The Quint by the Assansol-Durgapur Police commissionerate.

With elections approaching, Das warned that the party may attempt to exploit the minority status of the accused in recent cases.

She emphasised, "We must not judge criminals by their religion. In the RG Kar case, the convicted and other suspects were Hindus. A rapist's only identity is that of a rapist—a truth we must reiterate."

Echoing Das, theatre activist Madhurima Goswami, also deeply involved in the RG Kar protest, expressed dismay at the lack of effective leadership or political will in West Bengal to combat persistent violence against women.

She stated that the "Left's irrelevance becomes evident when such incidents occur", while the BJP and Trinamool are merely two sides of the same coin.

"Mamata Banerjee's victim-blaming reveals that patriarchy isn't solely a male issue. Also, consider Mahua Moitra, who vocally criticised the absence of women at an Afghan leaders' press conference in Delhi—where is her voice now? We lack legal knowledge and the means to navigate the system. Securing legal rights is a prolonged struggle, and not everyone has the financial resources to pursue it. Our only recourse is street protests, but we lack leadership and direction, leaving us mired in repugnant politics."

Madhurima Goswami, Activist

Recurring Cases of Sexual Violence

Kolkata has received the tag of the 'safest' city for four consecutive years. According to the recently published 2023 'National Crime Records Bureau' (NCRB) report, among the 19 metropolitan cities covered in the survey across the country, the rate of cognizable crimes in Kolkata that year was 83.9 per one lakh people. In 2022, this rate was 86.5 per lakh. In 2021, it was 103.5. According to the report, 12,213 cognizable crimes were registered in Kolkata in 2022. In 2023, this number decreased to 11,843.

But activists have highlighted a critical discrepancy in the narrative surrounding Kolkata’s safety. The state recorded 34,691 cases of crimes against women in 2023, as per the latest report of the NCRB. Meanwhile, the National Commission for Women, in a report titled The National Annual Report & Index on Women's Safety (NARI), released just weeks before the NCRB's 2023 data, ranked Kolkata 'below average' in women safety across the country, lagging behind cities like Mumbai and Bhubaneswar among others.

While the NCRB data proclaiming Kolkata as the "safest city" was widely publicised by the ruling Trinamool Congress, a look at the past two years shows the way women have repeatedly become victims of bone-chilling violence across the state.

On the evening of 25 May 2024, a heinous crime unfolded at Kasba Law College in central Kolkata. Between approximately 7:30 pm and 10:50 pm, a law student endured nearly three hours and twenty minutes of brutal torture in the college’s guard room. It later emerged that the victim was an active member of the ruling party’s student organisation. According to her statement, the assault was a retaliatory act following her rejection of a marriage proposal from an influential former student of the institution.

On the night of 2 October this year, amid Dashami/Dusshehra festivities, a 23-year-old female journalist was allegedly molested in the subway at Sodepur Railway Station while returning home. Officially, Sodepur falls under Kolkata's postal code: 700110.

The woman wrote on social media that a group of "Hindi-speaking, intoxicated youths" directed obscene remarks at her in public and physically harassed her. When she protested vocally, she was assaulted in retaliation. Initially, she received no assistance. Subsequently, intervention by the Officer-in-Charge of Dum Dum Government Railway Police led to action based on her formal complaint.

Despite the public outcry over such incidents and assurances of accessible administrative support, the reality is starkly different. Emergency helplines frequently prove unreliable.

In Kolkata’s IT hub, New Town, where many women return home late after work, the responsibility for their safety falls to the New Town Police Station. However, at the time of the filing of this report, the contact number listed online for the station was found to be inactive, with calls met by an automated message stating the number is 'invalid'.

This raises critical questions: where can a woman in distress in urban hubs such as New Town turn for help, and who will be held accountable for ensuring her safety?

(Arka Deb is an independent journalist covering current events and politics in Kolkata, West Bengal.)