PUDUCHERRY: The student who was sexually harassed by men on the Pondicherry University campus on Tuesday night preferred to remain anonymous. However, the friend of the victim posted the incident on Facebook. “He does not want to talk about the incident or reveal his identity in public. He did not want to file a complaint on those grounds either because he’s scared. He’s worried that the guys might come back and also about how he might be viewed. He’s a postgraduate student and is only a few months old on campus,” Prabha Bharathi, president of the university unit of the SFI.
The group had also allegedly captured on a phone camera the acts they forced the victim to perform. The student then begged the men to let him go and promised them that he would give them the money. He convinced them that he had the money in his hostel room and told them he would bring the money to them immediately.
The four men then took the student all the way to the hostel and waited for him to come back. The victim tried to alert other students in the hostel by raising alarm, but the group escaped from the spot.
The student was so disturbed by the incident that he wanted to quit, but others convinced him to remain and gave him the courage to file a complaint. A complaint has been lodged with Chief Warden Sudaliamuthu and Registrar of the university K Tharanikkarasu, said Prabha Bharathi. An FIR has also been registered in the Kalapet police station and the police are collecting CCTV footage on the campus to identify the assailants.
The students complained that such incidents are repeatedly happening on the campus and no major security measures are being taken. In September two girls from the northeast were molested by motorcycle-borne men while they were walking to their hostel after an event in the university, says Manish Mohapatra, AVBP’s university unit president . They lodged a complaint with university authorities, but nothing happened, he said. A year back, two girl students from Tamil Nadu were molested on the campus , he said. Even a student from Andhra Pradesh was threatened and beaten up, when he refused to oblige the culprits, said Prabha Bharathi.
There were incidents of theft of laptops and a mobile phone from a hostel room by an outsider as well as forced sexual assault on a girl student again by an outsider last year. Both the cases are being investigated by the Kalapet police. Earlier this month a motorcycle was stolen from the campus. There were many similar incidents in which women student were harassed by trespassers who come inside the campus illegally, said Prabha Bharathi.
Many outsiders come to the university in the evenings to hang out on the sprawling 850- acre campus and booze, says Prabha Bharathi. They demand money from students, molest girls and threaten students when they refuse, particularly those from other States, she said. A good number of outsiders are friends of staff and students. Some even stay as guests of students and are found committing crimes, police sources said.
The SFI has demanded a strict protocol at the university gate which will restrict the entry of anti-socials. “We also demand that the student council talk with the university administration to ensure the establishment of such an entry protocol in the university. Whenever similar incidents occur, the authorities are deluding the students each year with fake promises. The previous one should have to be the last of its kind, and the authorities should ensure it,” he said.
Do they have evidence?
“I am very much concerned,” said Anisha Basheer Khan, in-charge Vice-Chancellor of the university. Additional CCTV cameras are being installed. Two Assistant security officers (retired police officers) have been posted to assist the OSD. There are three committees to address complaints, she said and refused to answer on students grievance that they were facing similar incidents. “Do they have any documentary evidence?” she asked.
Security beefed up in Pondi Univ campus
Puducherry: Security in Pondicherry University has been strengthened on directions by the Madras High Court. As many as fifty police personnel were deployed in the university on shift basis. Students and staff were allowed inside the campus only after verifying their ID Cards. Others will have to take a security clearance after stating the purpose of their visit and whom to meet or the office they want to visit. This includes the post office and ATM.
The court, while hearing a petition, made it clear that those wishing to enter Pondicherry University campus should show identity cards and anyone refusing to do so could face police action. The court directed the DGP to strengthen security in the university, arrest anyone trespassing into the campus and let people in only after verifying valid ID cards.