Durgapur survivor identifies ‘rapist’, even as court rejects bail pleas
The Statesman | 29 October 2025The Test Identification (TI) Parade (under Section 54 of the BNSS) of five of the arrested accused was conducted inside the Durgapur Sub-Correctional Home at Fuljhore here on 24 October under the supervision of the ACJM, Durgapur, Shubhrakanti Dhar. The victim girl was taken to the Home under police escort, where she identified all five. The sixth accused, classmate Wasif Ali, was not required in the parade as he was already known to the girl. She claimed all of them were present at the time of the crime and made no attempt to prevent it.
The TI parade’s report was submitted to the Court (under Section 9 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872) and was made public after Partha Ghosh, the victim’s lawyer, pleaded for this. The magistrate immediately allowed this.
He, however, turned down the bail petitions of the accused and ordered jail custody for them till 31 October, saying, “Considering the gravity of the alleged offense, and depth of the prayer by the Public Prosecutor, the bail is rejected”. The accused were present in the court virtually through video conference alongwith the Home’s Superintendent. No lawyer appeared on behalf of the accused youths.
When Ghosh sought a single day deferment in production, the ACJM ruled it out. “We want a speedy trial of the case and so far I am aware, the investigation is also on the verge of conclusion. The police will place the charge-sheet soon. So, no more delay on our part,” he said.
Asked whether the survivor was present today, Ghosh informed the Court that she had left for her hometown in Odisha yesterday. The Magistrate then instructed the police to serve a copy of the charge-sheet to the her. After her release from the hospital, she was staying at a guest house outside the college campus with her mother.
The 23-year-old student of IQ City Medical College was accompanied when she left the campus late on 10 October by her boyfriend Wasif Ali, who became the sixth accused after the victim leveled charges of molestation against him. The accused had also snatched her cellphone. Five youths of local Bijra village were arrested in connection with the incident.
The Commissioner of Asansol Durgapur Police, on 14 October, stated that the medico-legal examinations suggested that only a single youth was involved in the sexual assault of the victim girl. Within an hour of this revelation, Wasif Ali, the girl’s boyfriend, was taken into custody. Firdos, currently identified by the victim as the rapist, was a former casual staff of the same hospital. The investigating officials, however, indicated that the culprit had no previous motive to organise the attack on the girl.
