Moral policing: IIT Madras student abused for hugging 

CHENNAI: In an act of moral policing, a female student of IIT Madras was harassed and abused by a staff member for giving a social hug to her friend in the campus. The incident has happened on April 17 and so far no action has been taken against the accused by the management. The staff member identified as Udaykumar, a technician in the Department of Applied Mechanics, has allegedly clicked pictures and videos of the victim hugging her friend. Upon being confronted, he refused to delete the photos, and the victim decided to take it up with the authorities, but received poor response. 

From security officers on duty to Chief Security Officer to the Dean (Students) have been extremely non-proactive in bringing the employee to task. The flagrant violation of privacy was apparently “not a priority” for the security section, and a bunch of about 50-60 students had to gather outside administration block to push them into confiscating the employee’s phone, and this was after the accused had been let go for an entire hour on the pretext of “important work” in his department, which is a major security lapse, said a student who has been an eyewitness to the entire episode.

The victim has lodged an official complaint with the jurisdictional police. However, she choose to withdraw the complain back after police summoned Udaykumar and gave a stern warning.  “When the victim met the Dean Students seeking action against the culprit, he advised her to focus on her students and not let the incident after her mentally and went on say that he can’t ensure everyone’s safety, as he can’t control others’ actions. Punitive action against the employee would have gone a long way,” students grieved.