Trinamool issues show-cause notice to Madan Mitra for his remarks on law college rape case

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress, on Sunday, slapped a show-cause notice on the senior party leader and MLA Madan Mitra over his controversial comments on the law college student rape case.

Madan Mitra on Saturday said the incident would not have happened had the student taken a couple of friends with her or informed people before going there.

After the rape incident surfaced and three persons accused in the case, all having links with Trinamool Congress’ students’ wing — Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) — were arrested, Mitra said the incident had sent a message to all girls that they should not go the college alone when it is closed.

“This incident has sent a message to girls that if someone calls you when the college is closed, don’t go; nothing good will come of it. If that girl had not gone there, this incident wouldn’t have happened,” he said.

Soon after that, Trinamool Congress issued a statement claiming that the remarks made by Mitra were made in his personal capacity, and the party unequivocally dissociates itself from his statements and strongly condemns the same.

Following this, Mitra also issued a statement, which he posted on his official X handle, denying that he tried to shield the culprits.

Mitra also claimed that his statement was misread and misused by a motivated group whose basic intentions were to malign the image of Trinamool Congress by wrongly focusing on his statement to serve their purpose.

Finally, on Sunday, Trinamool Congress’ state president in West Bengal, Subrata Bakshi, issued the notice to Mitra asking him to reply to the same within the next three days.

In the notice, Bakshi has said that the comments made by Mitra to media persons on June 28 were “unsolicited, unnecessary, and insensitive”.

“Your comments have adversely affected the image of the party. At the same time, your comments go against the zero-tolerance stance of the party on such cases. You are advised to reply to this show-cause notice on your breach of party discipline within the next three days,” the letter from Bakshi to Mitra read.

Mitra is yet to react to comment on the fresh development.

IANS