Two days after Monojit Mishra was arrested in connection with a rape case, his father is still coming to terms with the news that his son has been accused of raping and assaulting a 24-year-old student on the premises of a law college in Kolkata.
A priest from Kalighat, Mishra’s father (name withheld on request) said he was “ashamed” after hearing the news. “We stay in a 6 x 8 ft room. We worked so hard and rose from the lower strata of society to make him a lawyer. It is tough to believe that my son has done this,” he said, speaking to The Indian Express over the phone.
“He is my son. I worked hard to make him a lawyer. But I must say, if the judiciary, after seeing all the evidence, finds him to be guilty, he should be given the toughest punishment, the maximum punishment. I will accept it with my head bowed,” he added.
Mishra, 31, the prime accused in the rape case, is among the four accused arrested. A former member of the ruling Trinamool Congress’s (TMC’s) student wing and a former president of its unit at the law college, he allegedly wielded immense clout on the law college campus. The TMC has claimed that Mishra is no longer associated with the party.
Asked if he would pursue the case for his son, Mishra’s father said, “I will not pursue the case or fight a legal battle. Frankly, I cannot afford it. It is a fact that as a father, one’s duty is to do everything to see his son become something. What more can a father do? Then this happens.”
Mishra’s father said he and his son have been estranged for the past five years. “We have not had any communication for the last five-six years. He is so busy. I live on my own money. Sometimes people come enquiring about him and I tell them that he does not live here. Since this is his permanent address, his ATM cards and other things come. He collects these,” Mishra’s father said.
According to him, since school, Mishra had supported the TMC. “Later, when he joined law college, he became a leader there. There was so much factionalism in the TMC in his college. There were cases and counter-cases…Which is normal in college politics,” he added.
Mishra’s father added that his son liked “being called ‘Dada’ in college” and being the centre of attention: At felicitations etc. “I always wanted him (Monojit) to be a well-known lawyer. Now see what happened. Now, wherever I go, I fear people will point fingers at me,” he said.