Kolkata, 1 July (H.S.) On August 16 last year, just days after the horrific rape and murder of a doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, young lawyer Monojit Mishra had taken to Facebook to express outrage. Sharing a video of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee leading a protest march, he passionately captioned it: “We demand noose for the rapist, we demand justice, not drama, we demand justice without delay, we demand noose for the guilty.”
Less than a year later, the same slogans are being raised — this time against Mishra himself.
Monojit Mishra, once a prominent face of the Trinamool Congress’s student wing at South Calcutta Law College and known for projecting close ties with top party leaders, is now at the centre of a disturbing rape case on the very campus where he once held sway. The incident has sparked outrage, with students, political leaders, and civil society calling for strict punishment and an impartial probe.
Mishra, an alumnus of the law college, had been working there as a contractual staff member after graduating. He had led the college’s Trinamool unit before it was later dissolved. Students allege he wielded considerable influence on campus, often boasting about his proximity to party leadership, which created an environment of fear even among faculty members.
The video he shared in 2024 was from a protest march led by Chief Minister Banerjee, demanding justice for the RG Kar victim — a case that had triggered nationwide outrage and was eventually transferred to the CBI by the Calcutta High Court. In January 2024, the accused, Sanjay Roy, was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by a Kolkata court.
Now, another brutal case has put the spotlight back on law and order in West Bengal, with the Opposition accusing the Trinamool Congress of shielding criminal elements within its ecosystem. The ruling party, meanwhile, maintains that the police acted promptly — pointing to Mishra’s dismissal and the expulsion of co-accused Pramit Mukhopadhyay and Jaib Ahmed from the college.
However, Mishra’s past paints a worrying picture. He has been the subject of multiple police complaints over the years and was out on bail in several of them.
Despite these serious allegations, Mishra remained active in campus politics and maintained his position until the recent incident. Critics argue this reflects a deeper rot — a nexus between political power and impunity.
As the investigation unfolds, the case has once again brought the conversation back to campus safety, political accountability, and the urgent need for systemic reform.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Priyanka Pandey
