Bengal is going through deep crisis in educational institutes. Once, famous Bengal in education and culture, is now reeling under many scams and heinous crimes which the current Bengalees are determined to fight back and bring the glory by weeding the ills.

West Bengal, in recent times, is once again coming to the headlines of national news channels because of a gang rape in a reputed Law College of Kolkata on 25th June, 2025. A First Year Student at South Calcutta Law College, Kasba, Kolkata, was lured to give the post of General Secretary in the Students' Union by one named Manojit Mishra, who was well known, powerful and influential man in the college fraternity. The girl, being tempted by the call, agreed to meet Mr. Mishra on the college campus on the fateful day after college hours. This is a Morning College and all are dispersed from 2:30 pm to 3 pm. In this lee hour, Ms. Victim entered the students' union room along with Mr. Mishra and two other fellows, who later found, were the close associates of Manojit. Then, as reported, the girl was offered courtship by Manojit, which she turned down. After that, Manojit asked her to be romantic with him, which she also refused. Even Manojit was continuously trying to make her intimate this also did not yield any result, then Manojit forced her to be closer to him. Altercations started, but by that time, Manojit and his team had started harassing her sexually. The girl tried to resist, failed and got raped. Manojit then asked the Security Guard to vacate his room, and the girl was taken to that room, where she was again raped by all three present. The rape, as stated, was also occurred in the washroom. It was revealed from the cell phone of Manojit that the incident was videoed and the girl was shown that video, most probably, to blackmail her in future and also to generate fear for not reporting to the police. The torture continued for quite some time, spilling from day to evening, and the girl was both physically and mentally shattered, but was steady and requested them for spare. Despite her several requests, the gang of three continued their lust, and she could not get any favours either from Manojit or from the other two companions of Mishra and also did not get any support from the Security Guard, who remained blind and dumb throughout the abusive time.

The extent of the notoriety reached so high that the girl was gasping and wanted an inhaler which one of the predators bought from a nearby medical shop and handed over to the victim, but waited for orgies to continue till the girl became stable.

After so much of vulgarity and atrocities, the girl was released, not strangulated nor murdered, as it happened to the lady doctor at R G Kar Medical College on the dreaded night of 8th August, 2024.

Courageous Girl:

The girl, later, gaining courage and without stumbling by social taboos, reported the incident to the police station, lodged an FIR and offered herself for a medical test, thus bringing the entire episode before the nation.

Bengalis' Outrage & Police Action:

The repetitive incidents at the educational institutions rocked Bengal once again, and the Bengalis are very much angry with the law and order situation of the state. They held the Bengal Government responsible for its lacklustre administration. The police, here, unlike the R G Kar case, took up this incident seriously and immediately nabbed all the four, including the guard and initiated an investigation. The place of occurrence has been protected. Forensic experts rushed to the spot, collected samples and put their efforts with modern technology to find the truth of the notoriety. Police started interrogating the assailants and other related persons, including the Vice Principal, college students and off off-duty Security Guard. On finding some abnormality during interrogation, the off-duty guard was also arrested for further investigation. The entire Bengal started boiling and rattling over the incident.

Causes of Rising Criminals:

The Bengal, specially, Kolkata, which was once considered a dream city for the entire nation, has now become a symbol of 'Shame'. The state, in earlier days, was regarded as a cradle for cultural excellence and also earned the respect of holy land where Swami Vivekananda, Pandit Iswarchandra, Raja Rammohon and Gurudev Rabindranath rendered services for the development of mankind and spread the message for building a respectful society. That Bengal, in recent times, walking backwards, sank into various scams and heinous crimes. More surprisingly, in all the incidents, whether it is the R G Kar murder case or the Teachers' Selection Test or any other financial irregularities, there is a political patronage of a party that happens to be the ruler of Bengal today. That causes much anxiety for the Bengalis. In the case of the young doctor's murder, it was very much clear that the college principal and other alleged authorities had a close allegiance to the ruling leaders. Similarly, in the law college incident, the prime accused, Manojit, was an established leader of Trinamool Congress. This hidden clouding of the ruler with the crime, not only perturbed the Bengalis but also generated fear amongst the general mass of the imminent punitive measures, if they protest, as it happened with many young doctors for participating in the Abhaya murder case. So many Bengalis, despite their anger, remained silent.

Bengalis' Determination To Change The System But Plagued With Fear:

But, with time, when the unethical nexus of political cohorts for brooding similar incidents at Howrah, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, started coming, then the Bengalis woke up and started demanding strict discipline in the educational institutes.

• The Bengalis do not want to slide down further and want to carry the glorious flag with much vigour which the Nobel personalities had handed over to them. They by reminiscenting the noble work of Netaji, Swamiji, Gurudev, are boosting the morale of their children but still in pain and afraid when found the perpetrators had the strong political linkage.
• The connection with the political parties even made the non-biased principal and college authorities afraid of the people like Manojit and others. What a pitiable thing that surfaced was that Manojit was an ex-student of the college and a registered lawyer at Alipore Court, Kolkata, but Manojit again got an appointment as a Casual Employee at the college with a remuneration of ₹ 500/- daily and had total control of the administration. The Vice Principal, presently in charge of the college, was a puppet in the hand of Manojit. The de facto administrator, Manojit, had the power to make decisions about student admission to tender selection and from college development to students' activities. Thus, he became the supreme authority of the college. The earlier Principal, who was not in tune with Manojit, had taken strict action against him. He expelled him from college, but the sudden death of the Principal in a truck accident paved the way for Manojit to return the college. Since then, 'Manojit Raj' was established in full, and all people, including faculty to students and teaching and non-teaching staff, to security personnel, became subjects to self declared king of the college, Manojit.
• After the incident came to the media, the Bengal citizens along with the nation came to know that these types of goons have been growing up in entire Bengal who dominated the College Administration and took unethical advantage of their position by unleashing reign of terror, which the Junior Doctors, a year back, during their agitation over R G Kar murder case, sounded the government and termed the terror as 'Threat culture'.

Insidious Approach Of Government Help To Raise Threat Culture In Different Colleges:

Had the government paid attention to the doctors' demand, then most probably, the rape at Law College could have been avoided, but unfortunately, it is now seen that a similar unruly atmosphere prevails throughout the state. After the Law College incident, one after another shocking news started coming from different colleges. At Narasingha Dutta College, Howrah, a man of 40 years of age was found getting a body massage from a first-year girl during college hours. Similar terrifying news is also coming from the colleges of North 24 Parganas and South 24 Parganas. Everywhere, a panic atmosphere has gripped. The girls were shaky and afraid. Not willing to express the incidents for many reasons, like threat from the group and also social stigma.

Once, famous Bengal, thus lost its cultural fame and now, became a 'Standard of Shame', in the country.

Corrupted Recruitment:

Not only are women assaulted, but also corruption is found rampant at each and every level of the education system, and more surprisingly, the state government is taking things very casually and giving a cold shoulder to corruption. A very big teachers' recruitment scam has been unearthed. The court took strict action against the corruption. Retrenched the tainted teachers and asked them to refund their salary drawn. Barred them from seeking teachers' recruitment test in future, but the government was putting all its effort to safeguard the interest of the tainted teachers in various ways, either by creating supernumerary posts or by posting them elsewhere than educational institutions, contrary to the decision of the Hon'ble Court. The court, in no case, agreed to be lenient to corruption and strict in its decision of terminating the tainted teachers and continuing its effort to clean the recruitment procedure but the government is also, instead of accepting the directives, raising many objections to the judgment, thus, complicating the situation which in turn affecting the education system in schools and colleges.

Already, the education standard of Bengal has slipped many steps at the national level due to various orthodox and unscientific policies of the erstwhile left government and is now further receding downward due to the dogmatic attitude of the present government, which favours tainted personnel.

The schools have a dearth of teachers. Quality teachers are very few. The government and the School Authorities are sunk in corruption, and the education system is on the verge of collapsing. The Bengalees, pained by all these incidents, are now determined to bring back the lost glory by weeding out the termites from educational institutes.

Questions Raised About Vice Principal and College Administration's Role:

• Now, many questions have been raised about how Manojit, like ex ex-student, who was once expelled, could get an appointment with so much power to control the administration?
• Why was the Vice Principal of Law College allow Manojit and his group to enter the Students' Union Office when there was no recognised Students' Union?
• What did the College Authority give appointment to Manojit as a Casual Employee when he was a practising Lawyer?
• Why are the college premises open after college hours and even at night?
• What is the responsibility of the Security Guard?
• How does the College Authority monitor the efficiency of Security Personnel?
• Why was there no elected Students' Union?
• Why was the election of the Students' Union not held for years as per Statute?

Education Ministry's Role in Holding Election:

It was noted from records that the election to the Students' Union was kept in abeyance for most of the Government Colleges and State Universities since 2013, barring Jadavpur University, where the election was held last in 2016. Despite the repeated demand of the students' fraternity to hold an election, the government did not show any urge in it. A legal battle at Kolkata High Court started, and the division bench of the Chief Justice, going through all related documents, ordered to give a road map by the government for holding the election with a given off-date, because the statute speaks of holding elections every two years.

How Does College Manage Students' Activities In The Absence Of a Union?

• When there was no elected union in the Law College, then why was the Union Room opened?
• Why could an ex-student enter the Union Office?
• Why did college authorities collect the union fees from students when there was no union?
• How did the college spend the collected money?

Conclusion:

From the above evidence, it was very much clear that the college authorities had lost total control over administration and became a silent observer to Threat Culture by giving tacit support to the unholy nexus of people like Manojit with the politicians in power. This Manojit was so powerful that he could even evade arrest or any police action after slapping the on-duty constables. But this time, the Bengal girl rose to the occasion and charged the Bengalis, reminding them of their responsibility to bring back the lost glory.

The Bengalis, in general, are now determined to change the system and bring back the glory once again.

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