LUCKNOW: The three persons, arrested by UP police in connection with the harassment of a girl student on the IIT-BHU campus in November, last year, were charged with gang-rape for allegedly sexually assaulting her on the fateful night.
The arrests, which came 60 days after massive protests broke out on the premises of the institute, triggered a political row, with the Opposition claiming that the accused were being shielded as they were associated with the BJP. The ruling party however, denied the charge.
It may be recalled that past midnight of November 2, a 22-year-old student was allegedly waylaid, stripped, and sexually assaulted by three men while she was on a stroll with one of her friends on the campus.
While submitting police complaint, the victim had claimed that the three accused, who were riding a motorcycle, also made the video of her sexual assault.
On the basis of the victim’s complaint, an FIR was registered under Section 354 (assault or criminal force against a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Indian Penal Code at Lanka police station. Subsequently, the charge of gang rape was added to the FIR.
Confirming the arrests, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Bhelupur, Atul Anjan Tripathi identified the three persons as Kunal Pandey, Anand aka Abhishek Chauhan, and Saksham Patel.
Police authorities added that all the three accused, all in their 20s, were not students of IIT-BHU.
As per the police sources, on the day of crime, the three accused were crossing the BHU campus after watching ‘natakatiyya,’ a folk drama when they spotted the victim strolling with her friend. They shooed the friend away and raped the engineering student. The perpetrators filmed the act as well before fleeing the spot.
All the three used to reside in close vicinity of the BHU campus. They reportedly admitted to their crime during police interrogation.
During the interrogation, the three reportedly claimed that in the wake of massive protests on BHU campus after the incident, they left Varanasi within three days of the incident and went to Madhya Pradesh to be part of a poll campaign.
In the meantime, the Varanasi police kept rummaging through the CCTV footages of the area in and around BHU campus and spotted three persons entering the BHU campus on a bike on the fateful night.
To trace them further, the police authorities showed some of the footages to the victim who identified the three.
Opposition leaders shared on social media the purported images of the three accused with various BJP leaders and launched an attack on the state government.
However, reacting to the Opposition’s charge, BJP’s Varanasi city unit in-charge Vidya Sagar Rai denied the association of the three accused with the party.
He claimed that he was appointed city unit chief of the party in September, last year and Hansraj Vishwakarma as district unit chief. After their appointment they dissolved the city and district units to constitute the new ones, and the process for the same was still on.
Rai added that the three accused could have been the associated with the party in the previous set up but they have no role in the party at present.
However, the ruling party leaders said that the guilty would be duly punished as per the law.