Calcutta HC takes major action after Kolkata gang rape case, directs all Bengal colleges and universities to lock…

The Calcutta High Court on Thursday (July 3, 2025) directed the West Bengal government to put union rooms in colleges and universities where there is no recognised student body or no election had taken place in the recent past under lock and key.

The direction by a Division Bench presided by Justice Soumen Sen came while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition in the wake of the allegations of gang rape made by a student of a law college in Kolkata last week. The survivor of the sexual assault has claimed that she was confined in the union room of the college and the PIL has brought to the notice of the court that no student council is functioning at present in the universities and colleges of the State.

“In view of the said report, we direct the Department of Higher Education, Government of West Bengal, to issue a directive to all the universities and colleges that in the event there is no recognised student body or council or no election had taken place in the recent past having regard to the incident occurred recently in the students’ union room in the respective Colleges and Universities shall be put under lock and key,” said the order by Justice Sen and Justice Smita Das De.