A huge contingent of policemen had raided the house of the girl students in Friends’ Row, Jadavpur, on June 7. The police went there after a tip-off from local CPM cadres that the girls were Maoists and a number of the activists were holed up in the house. The police tried to force their way into the house and conduct a search, even though they were not carrying a search warrant.

Reacting to the CM’s statement, Manas Bhuniya, a Congress leader, said, “The Chief Minister always offers apologies after a misdeed. The police officers should be suspended. How can the police act on a tip-off from CPM cadres?”

Jayita Das, one of the students, said: “The incident reminds us of their brutality in Nandigram.”