- 6/30/2025
The Kolkata rape case in a government law college has taken a political turn. The main accused, Monojit Mishra, has alleged links to local TMC leaders. The BJP has sent a fact-finding mission and accuses TMC of giving political patronage to the suspect.
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00:00But our top story, the Kolkata rape horror in a government law college has taken a political
00:08twist.
00:09There is more proof of Maine accused Monojeet Mishra's links with local TMC leaders.
00:16The BJP, which sent a fact-finding mission to Kolkata, is accusing the TMC of giving
00:21political patronage to the suspect and ignoring Monojeet's past crimes.
00:27The TMC government there has hit back, claiming that the BJP is politicizing the issue with
00:32an eye on next year's West Bengal elections and all the accused have been arrested by
00:38the Kolkata police.
00:40Take a look at tonight's top story as we will focus on crimes against women.
00:45We start with Bengal.
00:57Even as the probe deepens into the horrific Kolkata rape case, shocking new revelations
01:06are sparking outrage across Bengal.
01:12A former batch mate of accused Monojeet Mishra told India Today that he had multiple charges
01:18of misconduct involving female students and used as political clout to silence the victims.
01:25national police will have given to us, taking Ooooh Mahatjeet.
01:26光
01:35Star
01:37Dr.
01:42King
01:44Governor Vati said last time in 2019, he said that you will have to study, otherwise you will have to be suspended.
02:14The BGP has come out all guns blazing, alleging direct links between the accused and the ruling Trinamul Congress.
02:23The party has released photos of main accused Monajit Mishra with TMC heavyweight Abhishek Banerjee and Minister Chandrimar Bhattacharya.
02:32And documents showing accused Zaeb Ahmed with low scores making it to the South Calcutta Law College merit list.
02:40Zaeb Ahmed who scored 2634, this was his rank for the admission, this is the merit wise list of all the candidates.
02:50Now what the BJP is claiming is that despite scoring low and getting a mere rank of 2634, he was allowed admission in the institution.
03:00Whereas other students who scored far better than what Zaeb Ahmed had scored, they were still not allowed admission in the educational institutions.
03:10A video showing Monajit leading a TMC rally shouting party slogans has also surfaced.
03:17The KS R.A.R.C.
03:20The KS R.A.R.C.
03:21The KS R.A.R.C.
03:22Is this just another case of sexual violence or a chilling glimpse into
03:52how power, politics and privilege can crush justice before it even begins?
04:01With Rajesh Shaha and Tapu Sengupta in Kolkata Bureau Report, India Today.
04:13And joining me now, my first guest is Shashi Panjar,
04:17the West Bengal Minister for Women and Child Development and Social Welfare.
04:20I appreciate your joining us, ma'am.
04:22Last year, it was RG Car in Kolkata, a government hospital where a rape and a murder of the young woman takes place.
04:29This year, it is another horrific rape that takes place inside a government law campus.
04:37Would you concede that this is hugely embarrassing for a government run by a woman chief minister,
04:43dare I say any chief minister, but particularly a woman chief minister in a state like West Bengal?
04:48Yes, of course, we are very aggrieved about this and it's really heartbreaking.
04:59It's painful and, of course, we are not putting anything, we are not defending ourselves.
05:06It is just that we are putting, trying to put things on record.
05:08And it's good that Kolkata police swung into action.
05:13It was swift and decisive.
05:14And within 12 hours of receiving the complaint, they could be nabbed and they are in police custody.
05:21The investigation is on.
05:23As of now, almost four of them have been arrested and the nine-member SIT has been formed.
05:28And we are extremely serious about this.
05:31But ma'am, are you aggrieved or embarrassed?
05:34Just a minute, ma'am.
05:35All over the country and of course here.
05:36Are you aggrieved or embarrassed at the end of the day?
05:39No, we are aggrieved.
05:40I mean, at the end of the day, here is a case in this particular instance,
05:44where the individual who is the main accused, Monojeet Mishra,
05:48is someone who was a member of your Trinamul Chhatra Parishat.
05:52There are photographs of him with your leaders.
05:54There are posters of him in the college.
05:55One of which also had Abhishek Banerjee and Mamata Banerjee in the background
06:00while he is addressing students.
06:01So here is someone whom the BJP is saying is directly connected,
06:04was protected in a way by the Trinamul
06:06and therefore could carry out an act like this with impunity inside a college campus.
06:14No, no, there was also a time in 2018 when he was expelled.
06:18And even if you see the last 2022 committee,
06:21because there have been no elections even after that.
06:24In fact, even during COVID and after,
06:26even the 2022 committee, which was just a temporary committee,
06:29does not have his name on it.
06:32Nevertheless, he has continued to, you know,
06:36brazenly say that he was associated with Trinamul Congress,
06:40which I think is one of the fallout, or I would say,
06:44you know, people try to associate themselves with the ruling party.
06:47We are absolutely disgusted with him.
06:51And I think we have disowned him long time back and he was not in the committee.
06:57He should...
06:58Ma'am, you are saying...
06:59Such kind of precedence as the...
07:01Ma'am, you are saying...
07:02The facts are unfolding.
07:03It's absolutely shocking.
07:05I'm sorry.
07:05Ma'am, you are saying you've disowned him in 2018.
07:08Truth of the...
07:08I'll tell you what.
07:09Truth of the matter, Shashi, just a minute, ma'am.
07:11Truth of the matter is that since 2013,
07:14since 2013, there are serial offenses listed against him.
07:18Here is someone clearly who was someone who should have been isolated a long time ago.
07:24And yet from 2013, he carried on till 2018 and then comes back to the college as a contractual employee.
07:30How was such a person with such a...
07:32Who is a serial offender allowed to re-enter a college?
07:35There will be therefore questions.
07:37Was he in some way the beneficiary of political patronage?
07:44No, no.
07:45I don't think...
07:46I mean, you should blame the...
07:48That there was political patronage and he was brought here.
07:52I mean, this is a very uncomfortable situation truly that we are in.
07:56And we are absolutely...
07:58The party is also looking into...
08:02In detail with the student's wing.
08:05And this should not be the kind of mentality that our student members, for that matter,
08:14because he was just maybe an ordinary member too, should have.
08:18This is not the mentality.
08:19But it's very difficult to predict what kind of a mentality one will have in future.
08:24But in the beginning, everybody tries to, you know, be with the ruling party and the ruling organization.
08:29Ma'am, he's a serial offender.
08:31Shashi Panjhaji, with due regard, he's a serial offender.
08:35How does a serial offender become someone who apparently was virtually controlling a college campus in South Kolkata?
08:43He was obviously flouting his political connections.
08:46No, no, this is all that he has self-assumed, you know, that he has assumed himself that I am a leader or something like that.
08:59There was no patronage for this.
09:01And I think the governing body of the college also must have seen into this as to why he had been inducted is something which I don't know.
09:12This is a matter which relates to the governing body of the college.
09:15But I would just say that there are many who assume themselves to be leaders and abuse people.
09:20No, no, Shashi Panjhaji, that's precisely how does someone like this get back into the college despite having a kind of record that he had a serial offender, accused of molestation, accused of targeting women, is someone who gets back as a contractual employee.
09:34That will raise questions.
09:35Absolutely, I think he shouldn't have been there and we really dissociate from all this.
09:46This is a terrible thing which has happened and finally the few questions are being asked to us.
09:52So, well, we are facing that.
09:54You know, because there is another person who's also been arrested, Zeb Ahmed and we are told that Zeb did not even have the marks to get into the college.
10:01And again, the question is, were all these people being brought into the college because they had the political influence and therefore thought, as I said earlier, that they had the impunity possibly to get away with something as horrific as a gang rape in the college?
10:18No, Rajdeep, the party will not look into who is getting through the admission portal.
10:24It is, you know, that is why there is a common, it's a portal now.
10:28I mean, you do not, there's no, it's all online.
10:30So, it is very difficult for me to say, it is an online portal and you get in through your serial number.
10:38It is very difficult for me to comment on that.
10:41I wouldn't know the nitty gritties of that.
10:44But having said that, truly, we are ashamed of such kind of people.
10:48Okay, you're saying you're ashamed of it.
10:49I mean, be it any political group they may belong to.
10:51Okay, so you're saying you're ashamed of it.
10:53Students should not be that.
10:53You're ashamed of it.
10:54That's a strong word you've used.
10:56That's good to hear.
10:57But I just want to, for a moment, play what two of your leaders said.
11:01And I want you to respond.
11:02Listen in to what Kalyan Banerji and Madan Mitra, two, one a senior MP, one a senior MLA said.
11:09I want your response.
11:10First, listen in to what they said, ma'am.
11:11If you are aware of it, you do not need to say it.
11:27so this is in college bandhahe
11:29parikah chal raha hai
11:31aapko unit ki kuchh banayega
11:33to aap
11:35maz jayye
11:37isma aapko bhala nai hova
11:39woh larki agar nai jata
11:41to ee ghaqna nai ghaqtate ta
11:43agar jane ka time larki kisi ko
11:45bata ke jate te
11:47dho sahiliyah lake jate te
11:49ee nai ghaqtate
11:51woh joh
11:53dhek raha hai hum
11:55keaa o
11:57he had taken the advantage of the situation
11:59ehish homo
12:01kriminality
12:03dee molestation
12:05karakara yais
12:07kichu purush kare
12:09taha mohi dahin layan
12:11kater bryantte
12:13ji nadayi parvated type
12:15purush tater bryantte lori kora hochi
12:17kore kore kore kore kore kore kore kore kore kore kore kore kore kore kore kore kore kore kore kore kore
12:23You know, in both these comments, it almost seems as if the victim in some, for some reason
12:37is to be blamed.
12:38I mean, this is the shocking misogyny, ma'am, in your party, that you've got a Madan Mitra
12:43virtually suggesting that the girl should have taken others with her.
12:47Why was she going to the college?
12:49This is precisely the kind of victim shaming that takes place.
12:53That I, you know, they were friends and therefore this could have been a relationship that went wrong.
13:00Again, it is the victim who's being shamed.
13:02Surely, as the women minister of Bengal, you should be sending out tougher messages about
13:07such misogynistic remarks.
13:13Very insensitive remarks and I think they should have to take onus of those remarks and it only
13:18reflects upon their mentality and their character.
13:21I'm sorry to say.
13:23So, will your action be taken or is it only a show cause notice for a, will action be taken?
13:29Will they be told?
13:30No, the party has, you see, as a, now they have been told, it's been show cause, the party
13:37has distanced themselves from their such comments.
13:40It's derogatory and definitely humiliating and very insensitive.
13:46This is not the way the party has been addressing this issue right from day one.
13:51We have never evaded this incident.
13:53The very first day when Kolkata police began the investigation, we were right in front of
14:00your cameras.
14:01So, we've never evaded.
14:02So, this, these kinds of, these kind, this kind of remarks from them is very unfortunate.
14:08This is not the way Thinamul Congress thinks.
14:10This must be their personal thoughts.
14:13They have to take the blame for this.
14:14You're saying this is not the way the Thinamul Congress thinks, but there will, there are
14:17those, particularly your opponents who are saying this is precisely the lumpenization
14:21of the Thinamul Congress, that the Thinamul Congress has allowed the likes of this, the
14:25primary rape accused to get away by inducting them into the, into the Chhatra Parishat.
14:31And therefore, this is where the party has gone wrong.
14:34I repeat, you have a woman chief minister and you have MPs and MLAs who talk in this manner
14:39misogynistically.
14:40And then you have a Chhatra Parishat leader who gets caught in such a serious case.
14:43No, no, who's caught away and who's getting away?
14:50The law is catching up with them.
14:52Those who are the culprits will be punished.
14:55So, Thinamul Congress is not giving any kind of shelter to them.
14:59Of course not.
14:59Why shouldn't we?
15:00We don't need to.
15:02Thinamul Congress is the ruling party.
15:04You may have many supporters, but Thinamul Congress is not supporting all this.
15:09Who's getting away with this?
15:10Okay, may I?
15:11Our leaders also not getting away with these statements.
15:13The party is extremely distressed and discontented with this kind of remark.
15:18Let me ask you, therefore, in conclusion, this is an election year in terms of the fact
15:22that about 10 months from now or 9 months from now, you will have elections in West Bengal.
15:26Will you agree, as the BJP in particular is saying, that this reflects a breakdown in law
15:31and order and this will become a major election issue?
15:34The Women Vote Bank is a major vote bank of the Thinamul Congress and Mohamata Banerjee.
15:38Has your vote bank, in a way, also been hit because women, according to the BJP, are now unsafe in West Bengal?
15:44Now, this is the difference between them and us, is that women empowerment or work
15:53related to women, issues relating to women, is not election-oriented.
16:01We work throughout the year for this.
16:02This is the difference.
16:03For them, they see it just as a vote bank.
16:07And just, I mean, just look at the fact-finding team which has come.
16:10They are basically BJP representatives.
16:13They themselves are offenders.
16:14I mean, the four members, who themselves are offenders, have, you see the statements in the past
16:22about sexual harassment and trust-
16:22No, what do you mean by they are offenders?
16:25What do you mean by these members are offenders?
16:28What do you mean when you say these members are offenders?
16:33I will give you two examples.
16:35Maybe Satyapal Singh is one of the members who's come.
16:37You remember his remarks during the Hathras time.
16:40He has said, what does the state government have to do with the rape?
16:44What does the state police do with the rape case?
16:47This is Satyapal Singh on record.
16:50Even Mannan Mishra, who has come, he has said, just because a victim comes and gives a complaint
16:56of sexual assault, doesn't mean that we take her in face value.
17:00Such offenders have come to investigate an offense here in Bengal.
17:05So that shows the politicization.
17:07At least in Bengal, Trinamul Congress doesn't have that mentality to tell its women, you
17:13should wear these clothes, you should eat this, you should do this, you should come back
17:17at home and time.
17:18This is something which BJP dictates.
17:21But anyway, I really didn't want to get into that narrative.
17:24We are just shocked that since you raised the issue that some people are trying to use
17:30this incident to make a political issue out of it, a rape incident, a woman and her body,
17:37this is not a battleground for politics.
17:40Okay.
17:41Let me leave it there, Shashi Panja.
17:43You've had your say.
17:45We'll wait and see how this all plays out.
17:47There is, of course, the politics, but there is clearly question marks also over why such
17:53accused of serious crimes can get into political parties and positions where they believe they
18:00have the impunity to run a college as per their diktat.
18:04Thank you very much for joining me here on the news today.
18:07Now, that was Bengal.
18:17Let's now switch to Tamil Nadu where a real shocker is also coming that has left many
18:22wondering just what's going on in some parts of the country.
18:2627-year-old Redania consumed pesticide, killed herself reportedly due to torture over dowry
18:33by her husband and in-laws.
18:35She took this drastic step just two months into her marriage, which involved a dowry of
18:40800 grams of gold jewelry, a Volvo car worth 70 lakhs.
18:44But her husband and in-laws wanted more.
18:47Take a look at this chilling report.
18:56A horrifying story has emerged from Tamil Nadu where a young woman just months after her
19:02wedding was driven to death.
19:05Taking her own life after being harassed constantly for dowry.
19:12This picture of Redhanya on her wedding day, happy, content with her husband, Kavin Kumar.
19:20This picture is from April and two months later, she has taken her life.
19:26What was meant to be the beginning of a new and wonderful life turned into a nightmare and ultimately,
19:35Radhanya consumed pesticide in her car and ended her life.
19:40She was like, oh, you did so much and the living.
19:41It was time for me.
19:42Remember, she never looked at her.
19:43However, she never looked at her.
19:44Look at her.
19:45Okay, when the family was looking under and he was looking under and the throne of the
19:47wife and her husband and her husband and her husband and her husband, she had to tell us.
19:49But I am so grateful that you have been given me.
19:56But I have been given to you so much.
19:59You can tell me that you are not able to tell me.
20:03But I am able to tell you how to tell me.
20:08You are not able to tell me that you are not able to tell me.
20:14I'm going to die, Dad. I'm going to die, Dad.
20:19I'm going to die. I'm going to die.
20:25I'm going to die.
20:29Shockingly, Ridhanya was harassed despite her family handing over 100 sovereigns.
20:35About 800 grams of gold jewellery and a Volvo car worth 70 lakhs as dowry.
20:42But that wasn't enough for the monsters.
20:45Her father, Heartbroken, admits he asked his daughter to adjust when she told him about the harassment.
20:55I told everyone to talk about the children.
20:58I told everyone to go.
21:00I told everyone to go.
21:02I told everyone to go.
21:04I told everyone to go.
21:06I told everyone to go.
21:08I told everyone to go.
21:10I told everyone to go.
21:11I told everyone to go.
21:13You had to go.
21:14Why didn't you have to go?
21:16You don't know why I got.
21:18Anyone even put anything.
21:19I don't know what I'm doing.
21:26Ridhaniya's death is another anguished testament
21:29on how dowry harassment continues unabated,
21:34even in educated families.
21:38Kavinkumar and his parents have been arrested
21:42based on Anna Durey's complaint.
21:45With Bidish, Pramod Madhav, Point State.
21:49As you can see, Bengal is where we started off.
21:54We've gone to Tamil Nadu.
21:55But this is clearly a national epidemic
21:57when it comes to crimes against women.
22:00In the last just few days,
22:02reports from different parts of the country,
22:04from that brutal rape of a college student in Kolkata,
22:07a dowry death in Tamil Nadu.
22:09In Karnataka, a live-in partner has killed a woman,
22:12dumped her body in a garbage truck,
22:14and a 70-year-old woman tourist was raped
22:17in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahlgaam in April.
22:19The case has now come to the court today.
22:21And the court in Jammu and Kashmir was compelled to say
22:25that Kashmir's natural beauty cannot sustain its appeal
22:29as a tourist destination unless the moral fabric
22:32of society is preserved.
22:34So it's not just happening in Bengal.
22:36It's happening across the country.
22:37It paints a troubling picture of violence against women.
22:42The question is, who will save our betis?
22:44What happens to beti bachao?
22:46Is that just a political slogan?
22:48What happens to the politics that's played out
22:50every time there's a crime against a woman?
22:52How do you curb crimes against women?
22:54Are tougher laws needed?
22:56What really will change mindsets?
22:58What really brings real change?
23:00We heard from Shashi Panja of the Trinamool Congress,
23:04its minister.
23:05Now let's widen it to other guests.
23:07Lalita Kumara Manglam is former chairperson of the NCW,
23:10been associated with the BJP.
23:12Kiran Bedi is former IPS officer.
23:14I appreciate both of you joining us.
23:17Lalita Kumara Manglam,
23:19when you are seeing these stories play out across the country,
23:23is there a fear that these stories get trapped in politics?
23:28And therefore the real change which is needed in mindsets is not addressed.
23:33The BJP sends a fact-finding mission to Bengal,
23:36won't send one to Madhya Pradesh,
23:38which has, according to the state assembly, 20 rapes a day.
23:41So I'm asking you now,
23:43do you believe that we need to shun politics
23:45and focus on changing mindsets?
23:49Rajdeep, I've been saying exactly this for a very long time,
23:53that politics messes up any real issue
23:57that needs to be tackled.
24:00In this case, women's empowerment.
24:01I was just on a panel,
24:03where a member of the ruling Sri Ramul Congress in West Bengal,
24:08tells me that you can either be a woman or a politician,
24:12and had no intention of apologizing.
24:16He was bugged with me because I spoke in Bengali.
24:19And I told him that this is not the Calcutta that I used to roam around in,
24:22when I was a little girl in every summer,
24:24when my parents left me at my mama's houses.
24:27Now, this is the mindset, not just of people in West Bengal.
24:31This is the mindset of people everywhere.
24:33The other half of me is from Tamil Nadu,
24:34where I'm equally ashamed today because we see that young girl,
24:37was forced to commit suicide because neither her own family,
24:41and, of course, her in-laws, paid any attention to her.
24:47Everybody seems more bothered about what will other people say?
24:52What about our prestige?
24:54Not about the safety or even the lives of their women.
25:01Unfortunately, whether it is in a law college or on a bus or on a dark street or sitting in a car,
25:08like that young journalist who was shot in Delhi some years ago.
25:12Women seem to be unsafe everywhere, even today.
25:16For all the big claims, for all the noise that's being made,
25:20unless we as a society decide to stand up for our daughters,
25:25regardless of age, and women, young, old, middle, whatever, poor, rich,
25:29you know, different castes, different religions, anything.
25:33I don't think we are going to come through this with, you know, with any sort of glory.
25:39You know, it's one thing to ask society to change.
25:42Politics must be left out of such issues.
25:45It doesn't matter whether the BJP or the TNC or the TDP or somebody else or the Congress is in power.
25:50Well, I'm glad to hear someone say that.
25:52I'm glad to hear because, as I said...
25:54Unless the police are left to do their job on their own,
25:57without interference from the local government.
26:01And we have police people who have the guts to do that.
26:04I don't think anything is going to change.
26:06Also, our social system has to change.
26:11Let me take what you just said to Kiran Bedi.
26:14Is this about policing?
26:16Is this about ensuring fear of the police?
26:18I mean, what gets people the impunity,
26:21whether in Tamil Nadu, whether in Bengal,
26:23whether in Kashmir, whether in any part of the country?
26:25The impunity with which they get away.
26:28Is it about policing or is it about mindset, Kiran Bedi?
26:32Both. It's policing and mindset.
26:36First, the policing.
26:38Police is supposed to maintain records of these kinds of past criminals.
26:43They're supposed to have personal files and history sheets.
26:47And number two, when an employer is employing,
26:50they need to go back to policing to find out whether these people have a past record.
26:55So that means first is policing.
26:57Police maintains the records, opens personal files, verify, and keep them under watch.
27:02Because when you open a personal file or a history sheet,
27:05they are supposed to come under the local police watch.
27:08Do they have it?
27:10Do they maintain such records?
27:11So first is policing.
27:13Secondly, does the employer, before employing the contractual,
27:16I'm looking at the Calcutta case.
27:18Did they go back to police?
27:20Could you verify this man?
27:21Is he on a police record?
27:23So that means police verification.
27:25Just as you had police verification for passports, why don't we have?
27:28And we have a police verification for employment.
27:32Second, number one.
27:33So it's two things.
27:34One is political processes.
27:36Second is police duties.
27:38Did the police have this kind of record of this criminal,
27:41this person who committed the rape?
27:43So I'm looking at both employer and the police.
27:47Secondly, and this is what I think is happening.
27:49The police is not maintaining personal files of such like people.
27:54If they do and the contract and the employer asks for verification, information comes.
27:59Secondly, the social is the processes, the political processes.
28:03Why don't we start?
28:04I read in the news today that Jamia University has started to ask for guardian certificate
28:10of their students saying you get a guardian certificate, your certificate from home,
28:14that you are below, you are well behaved, you're good character.
28:18I think this is not a bad idea.
28:20It's a good idea is to go back to the responsibility of society, responsibility of the parents,
28:26and go back to your school leaving college certificate that you are a good and a disciplined or a good character student.
28:34What if we start these two processes?
28:36If police verifications, police records and third is verification, universities and colleges going back
28:44to say give a certificate from your guardians that you are going to maintain good.
28:48It was anti-ragging.
28:50Yeah, but the second part whether character certificates will work is a huge question mark.
28:55I take your first point though about police in particular.
28:58We will come to education in a moment.
28:59I just want to just give the national picture because I think it's important to know crimes
29:03against women, number of FIRs filed.
29:06Now, in many cases, FIRs don't get filed or not registered.
29:09Uttar Pradesh leads the way.
29:10It's India's most populous state, over 65,000.
29:13Maharashtra is next, 45,331.
29:15These are all large states.
29:17Rajasthan, 45,058.
29:19Bengal, 34,738.
29:21Madhya Pradesh, 32,765.
29:24A state where it was admitted there were 20 rapes a day last year in the state assembly.
29:29This is NCRB data.
29:30Let's look at rate of crime against women per lack of population because that gives you a better sense of it.
29:35Delhi, 144.4.
29:37Union territory stand number one.
29:39Haryana, 118.7.
29:42A state which for the longest time had a terrible sex ratio.
29:44Telangana, more surprising, some would say, from the south, 117.
29:49Rajasthan, troubling, 115.1.
29:52Odisha, 103.3.
29:54West Bengal actually is 71.8.
29:56All India is 66.4.
29:59I put out that, Lalita Kumar Manglam, because as I said at the very outset, this is a problem that cuts across BJP and opposition rule states.
30:06In fact, four of the top five states in total numbers are BJP-ruled states.
30:10Is that the worry that because we've now taken crime against women, not as a law and order issue, but a political issue, it's even more difficult to resolve?
30:18I agree with you there, Rajdeep.
30:22It is also a political issue because today we have too many politicians, even today, let me say, we have too many politicians, and they're not always men, who have horribly, almost demagogic attitudes, patriarchal attitudes towards women.
30:40You yourself just quoted both these two politicians, who are very popular and very well-known, Madan Mitra and Kalyan Banerjee in West Bengal, suggesting that if women go out at the wrong times to meet the wrong people, I mean, almost implying that, what do you expect?
30:55And the other way, the questions that are not being asked is, how is that boy, the one who committed rape, this Mishra, Munajid Mishra, how was he even employed by the college?
31:07The head of that college, the head of the board of governors of that college is a TMC MLA.
31:12So this is where politics must stop.
31:15In education, in every field of life, politicians want to interfere and want to be the boss.
31:21And I'm saying this across the board.
31:22I'm not saying any one party, other party.
31:25Politicians must also have a line that they should not cross.
31:30And people in society should also see to it.
31:34It's a democracy.
31:35We vote for them.
31:36Why do we continue, it befuddles me, why do we continue to vote for our parties and people where women do not get respect?
31:45You know, when generally, they used to say she used to rule with a whip in her hand.
31:50And you know how women loved her for that?
31:52Maybe in public, even including me, I'm a huge admirer of that lady.
31:57Maybe in public, we don't say it because immediately the backlash is so severe and so bitter and so mean.
32:02But unless you can prove that you're tough enough to meet and, how do you say, destroy that patriarchy that is there so deeply embedded in Indian society,
32:14and even very often in Indian culture, in many places, or at least the practice of culture,
32:20and as I said, our police must now develop a spine.
32:25We need more of a focus like what Kiran Bedi was.
32:27I just want a final minute to Kiran Bedi, because Kiran Bedi, you know, the belief was tough laws will change things.
32:37Tough laws also don't seem to act as a deterrent.
32:40I mean, the truth of the matter is, is it about laws or is it about mindsets, Kiran Bedi?
32:44Rajdeep, I was talking about prevention.
32:48Unless you focus on prevention, I talked about the police role, I talked about the employer role, but now I'm talking about the parents' role.
32:55I'll tell you.
32:56Why did the girl commit suicide when she told the father that I'm not happy here?
33:00And the father kept saying, adjust.
33:02That's another social problem.
33:04This is a social evil where the parents, if I be chief, they've been alerted by the daughter that I am being harassed here.
33:11Why does the father say, adjust?
33:13Father says, OK, come back home.
33:16Come back home.
33:18This is as much your home than it was before you got married.
33:22The problem is, the parents are not giving this confidence to the daughter that after they've been married, that they have lost a home.
33:30They should say, now you have two homes.
33:32And if ever you are harassed, let us know.
33:34And not adjust.
33:35Go back to mediation.
33:37Go back to complaining.
33:38The problem is here.
33:39She's been driven to suicide because, unfortunately, she now did not, she knew the parents were very grieved and did not want to bother the parents.
33:49So, I think that has to change.
33:52You are married, your home is, your door, parental home is not shut.
33:56It's open.
33:57The problem is with the social culture, the social milieu.
34:01I think you make a very good point there.
34:02And I think Tamil Nadu exemplifies that, the social conditioning that needs to change even of parents in cases like this.
34:09I'm going to leave it there.
34:10I hope that these cases shock us enough into action.
34:15That's all that one can hope for.
34:16But I hope that that happens.
34:18Thank you both very much for joining me and shedding more light on the subject.
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