A Jadavpur University teacher has narrated her ordeal at the hands of a group of men and women who attacked her when she protested alleged hate speeches against the institute at a BJP rally in support of the amended citizenship act on Monday evening.

A police officer said a case had been started under IPC sections related to outrage of modesty, wrongful restraint, assault and criminal intimidation against “unknown” persons.

Two students who witnessed the alleged attack near the 8B bus stand in Jadavpur on Monday around 6.30pm and tried to rescue the teacher were roughed up, too, according to a police complaint lodged by them.

The assistant professor, whom her attackers had apparently taken for a JU student, said the assault had left her so scared and shocked that she locked the door of her house immediately after stepping in later in the evening.

She wondered that if she felt so insecure in Calcutta — considered to be one of the safest cities in India — what the condition would be in other parts of the country.

She wrote in a social media post: “Once again, I am fine, no blood spilt, no bones broken, but that this could happen to me in Jadavpur, where I live and work, at the hands of middle-aged middle-class women, is a sign of the times we live in. If you think this will not happen to you, you are really, really deluded.”

The woman has alleged that she was roughed up and molested by a group of women and men when she said that what they were propagating from the rally was a lie.

BJP parliamentarian Locket Chatterjee said: “I have heard about the attack. Those who had attacked her were not associated with the BJP. I do not know where they came from. I condemn the attack on a woman.”

The teacher, who has lodged a complaint with Jadavpur police station, said she was returning home after attending an anti-citizenship act protest on Monday evening when she came across some women at the rally making hate speeches.

“One of the speakers said, pointing towards Jadavpur University, that the place was the root of all evils. I could not control myself and said: ‘mithye kotha’ (it’s a lie). That’s all. The moment I uttered these words, the group turned its focus on me and started closing in,” she said.

The woman said that before she could understand what was happening, she found herself surrounded by women and men. She said she was abused and roughed up by the crowd.

The spot — which remains busy with motorists, pedestrians and students throughout the day — is only a stone’s throw from the university.

One of the two students who were allegedly roughed up when they tried to rescue the teacher said: “We asked those who surrounded her why she was being beaten up. The crowd started beating me up, too.”

He alleged the mob had snatched his phone when he tried to record the assault on the teacher with it.

The woman said the intensity of the attack lessened after she identified herself as a teacher. “Maybe initially they had thought I was a student. But when I said I was a teacher, the intensity of the attack reduced and two men from the group started dragging me away from the gathering, advising me to stay away,” she said.

They let go of her at a spot close to her home.

She rushed home and locked the door, hoping the attackers had not followed her to the doorstep.

“I was still shuddering. I was wondering if this could happen to me at the 8B bus stand — a place where I have been living for years — what could happen to people living in other parts of the country?” she said.

“People are so little bothered when someone is openly making hate speeches and if someone protests, he or she is being attacked. This is unimaginable. The only way left is to take the fight to the streets and protest against such atrocities.”