She isn’t the one who should be ashamed: Kolkata rape survivor urged to reclaim future through exam

Kolkata: Just three weeks after enduring a harrowing three-hour ordeal of torture and sexual assault on her college campus, a young law student in Kolkata has received her first-semester exam admit card, along with 197 of her classmates. Whether she will appear for the exam, which begins on Wednesday, remains uncertain.

Sources revealed that the student did not personally collect her admit card, though a senior official from the state higher education department assured that “all necessary arrangements have been made” to ensure she can write her papers with “comfort and an adequate sense of security.” The location of her exam center has been withheld for her safety.

The brutal assault took place on June 25—the very day she had come to fill out her exam form. Three men, including college alumnus and ad-hoc employee Monojit Mishra and two students, Zaib Ahmed and Pramit Mukherjee, have since been arrested.

As political ripples grow—with the BJP sending a fact-finding team to Kolkata and criticizing the Mamata Banerjee-led government—what remains most pressing is the survivor’s mental and emotional recovery. Initially reluctant to sit for the exam, her family cited deep trauma. But voices of support have grown louder.

“I wanted her to appear for the exam from the bottom of my heart,” said Leena Gangopadhyay, chairperson of the West Bengal Commission for Women. “If she finds the courage to write it, she will set an example for survivors everywhere. She is a fighter. Not appearing would feel like a victory for her rapist—and that must not happen.”

Her classmates echo the sentiment. “She filled out her exam form. Her roll number was even marked differently. We don’t know why. But we’re all hoping she’ll appear. She deserves to,” one student told the media.

Now, as the exam date looms, the young woman stands at the edge of a difficult but symbolic choice: whether to walk into an exam hall not just as a student, but as a survivor reclaiming her future.