Kolkata gangrape horror: Students say 'Mango' was a predator shielded by power, had disturbing history of sexual violence

Monojit Mishra, also known as Mango, the main accused in the gangrape of a 24-year-old college student in Kolkata, reportedly had a long history of disturbing behaviour, including signs of psychopathy and a tendency towards sexual violence, according to his former classmates and juniors, as reported by TOI.

Students said Mishra had a pattern of making unwanted proposals to several female students, including the survivor, using the same line in Bengali: “Tui amay biye korbi?” (Will you marry me?)

A pattern of abuse ignored?

Mishra had earlier been expelled from the college's Trinamool Chhatra Parishad unit in 2021. However, students claim he continued to roam freely on campus and used his influence to control WhatsApp groups and college information.

“He was a constant threat, especially to girls,” a third-year student said. “We even gave a formal sexual harassment complaint to the teacher-in-charge, but nothing came of it.”

Students allege that Mishra morphed photos of girls and shared them, recorded intimate moments with women and circulated them among friends, and often body-shamed female students. Despite several complaints of molestation, harassment, extortion, and even assault, no strict action was ever taken.

Campus culture of fear

A first-year student said Mishra had power because of his links with the students’ union. “Those close to the union could get away with anything. They shared obscene jokes and photos in student groups all the time. We kept quiet because we were scared,” the student said.

Others recalled that Mishra had also threatened students who joined last year’s ‘Reclaim the Night’ protest, a movement held after the RG Kar rape and murder case.

Co-accused also known faces

One of the co-accused, Promit Mukherjee (also known as Riju), had reportedly taken part in protests last year, ironically demanding the death penalty for the accused in the RG Kar case.

Another accused, Junaid, is from Howrah. His house was found locked on Saturday. Neighbours said they were shocked. “It’s disturbing to hear Junaid’s name in this case,” said local resident Abbas Sheikh.

Inputs from TOI