Kolkata: On August 30, an incident involving the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TCP), the student wing of the Trinamool Congress Party, occurred at Dinhata College in North Bengal. Allegedly, TCP members locked 13 female students in a college bathroom after they refused to attend a party rally. One of the students reportedly had to be hospitalized due to the ordeal.

The TCP had organized rallies across West Bengal in response to ongoing protests regarding the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at RG Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata earlier this year. They mandated that all students participate in these rallies. At Dinhata College, some students resisted this directive, leading to the incident. According to reports, TCP leaders locked the 13 girls inside the bathroom of the girls' common room. The students were trapped for an extended period and begged for help. A friend of the trapped students eventually reached the scene, but by that time, one girl had suffered from suffocation and was taken to Dinhata Sub Divisional Hospital. She is a first-year student and is receiving treatment.

Principal Abdul Awal later visited the hospital but did not address media inquiries. The police, informed about the incident, spoke to the hospitalized student. However, she declined to comment to the press. A youth who helped rescue the students reported that TCP members had locked them in the bathroom for not attending the rally. The youth claimed that despite the students' repeated pleas, including one girl’s urgent need for air, the door was not opened until assistance arrived. The police have acknowledged the incident but noted that no formal complaint has been filed by the family. The girl’s father suggested that her illness might have been due to an existing breathing problem and not directly related to the incident.

The Trinamool Chhatra Parishad has denied the allegations, with Partishad leader Amir Alam claiming that the incident did not occur. He suggested that the girl's illness was due to a pre-existing condition and criticized the students for making false accusations. Opposition student organizations have condemned the incident. ABVP State Secretary Deepta Dey has called for an impartial investigation, while SFI’s local committee secretary Abir Dev has demanded the release of the college’s CCTV footage and questioned why a formal complaint has not been lodged, given that the principal was on campus during the incident.

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