7 September, Sunday: A birthday party turned into a horror for a 20-year-old woman from Haridevpur, who claimed that two of her acquaintances gangraped and beat her up in Kolkata's Regent Park area on September 5. India Today reported that the accused, Chandan Mallick and Dwip (Deep) Biswas, are on the run now, while police have registered a case and initiated an investigation.
How the incident unfolded
According to India Today, the survivor had first met Mallick a few months back. Mallick had presented himself as being the president of a South Kolkata puja committee and later introduced her to Dwip. The two men had allegedly promised her work with the committee and soon started talking to her regularly. The incident occurred during the night of her birthday, as stated by the woman. She said that the accused took her to a flat in Regent Park, where they had dinner together, and late,r when she tried to leave, the men locked the door, assaulted her, and raped her. She was able to escape the following morning and go back home.
Police response and community concerns
The survivor reported a complaint to the Haridevpur police station, after which an FIR was registered. In a formal statement, police stated, "The FIR-named accused Chandan Mallick brought the complainant to the house of another accused, Dwip Biswas, near Malancha, where both allegedly raped and assaulted her. An investigation into the case is ongoing." Authorities are now trying to trace the accused and have sought information from the public.
The attack comes merely months after another shocking gangrape case in June, when a 24-year-old law student was molested on the campus of the South Calcutta Law College. That case generated huge mass protests and renewed concerns over women's safety in Kolkata, and now another issue has surfaced.
