West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose on Monday termed the alleged gang-rape of a second-year MBBS student in Paschim Bardhaman district as “outrageous, and shocking to public conscience”, saying this was not the first time such an incident has happened in the state and that he “cannot not say with confidence that the state is safe for the girl child”.

The student was allegedly gang-raped near her college on Friday night when she had gone out for dinner with a male friend. A total of five persons were arrested in the case till Monday.

Bose, who met the victim and her parents from Odisha at a hospital where she is undergoing treatment, also talked to the doctors who are treating her.

The victim studies at a private medical college in Paschim Bardhaman. Hospital officials said she was stable and had been shifted to a private room.

Talking to mediapersons after meeting the victim and her family, the Governor said, “I have come here for a reality check. I do not want to go by reports but wanted to see how the victim is doing. Am here for fact finding and not false finding.”

He added, “What happened is outrageous. It’s shocking to the public conscience. It is high time all of us stand together and say ‘stop or we will make it stop’. We will do everything possible to provide justice to the victim and to ensure such incidents do not happen in Bengal in future.”

“This is not the first time such an incident has happened in the state. Bengal led the renaissance of this country. We want a second renaissance here… Bengal should be made safe for girls.”

A three-member team of a commission formed by the Odisha government also visited the victim and her parents at the hospital.

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in state Assembly Suvendu Adhikari visited Paschim Bardhaman to meet the victim but was not allowed inside the hospital. He, however, met the victim’s father outside the hospital and assured all support to the family.

“I spoke with her parents. She is stable. The parents want to take her to AIIMS Bhubaneswar at the earliest,” he said, alleging, “In the morning, I received a call from a party worker that the doctors were instructed by the management not to meet me. The order must have come from either police or the Trinamool Congress.”

Later, Adhikari along with local BJP leaders and workers staged a dharna in the city where the college is located. The party announced to launch a six-day dharna there.

Claiming that one of the arrested accused is a TMC worker, Adhikari said, “We failed to protect our sister from Odisha and the CM of this state asks women to find out ways to protect themselves. The CM did not call them once. She has planes and helicopters and could have come here once.”