Chaos as BJP protests Kolkata college gangrape, Bengal unit chief detained

There was utter chaos in Kolkata as Bengal BJP president and Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar was detained on Saturday after he joined a massive protest rally organised by the party against the alleged gang-rape of a first-year Law College student on the institution's premises.

Majumdar had reached the protest site and joined his party cadre, demanding the perpetrators be brought to justice, and said that Mamata Banerjee has destroyed democracy in West Bengal and is crushing democratic voices.

"This is the face of democracy in the state of West Bengal, where Mamata Banerjee has ruined democracy," Majumdar told reporters amid sloganeering against the state government as he, along with other party workers, was escorted into a police van following their detention.

A 24-year-old South Calcutta Law College student alleged she was gang-raped on June 25 after she rejected a marriage proposal from the main accused, 31-year-old Monojit Mishra, who is a former student and current general secretary of the Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad (TMCP).

Due to the alleged involvement of a TMC cadre, the incident became a political flashpoint between the ruling party and the opposition BJP. On Saturday, the situation became chaotic as the BJP workers, led by Majumdar, clashed with police and brought down police barricades put up to stop the protesters, amid a heavy police presence in the area.

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