At midnight in the IIT-BHU campus in Varanasi, three youths riding Bullet made a lone student take off her clothes at gunpoint. He kissed the student and also made a video of it. After this the youth went out through Hyderabad Gate. There is anger among the students of IIT after coming to know about the incident. But a similar incident had happened last Monday night also, about which the Proctor’s office was informed. In this matter, the Dean of the institute said that the Proctor’s office had received a complaint. Action is being taken in this matter. Many members of the IIT-BHU Student Parliament said that no action has been taken till now in the previous incident. Both the incidents took place at isolated places on the campus.
Angst among students after Wednesday’s incident
Actually, on Wednesday, a B.Tech student in the Department of Mathematical Engineering left the New Girls Hostel after midnight at around 1.30 am for a walk. When she reached Gandhi Smriti Hostel intersection in the campus, she found her boyfriend there. Both of them had just reached Karman Veer Baba Temple when three youths riding bullets came from behind and stopped them. After some time the boyfriend was sent away from there. In the complaint given by the student to the police, it is written that the youth gagged her and took her to a corner. First they kissed and then removed their clothes and made a video and photo also. After screaming, those youth also threatened to kill. Not only this, those youth also took the phone and kept me for about 10-15 minutes and then left me. Somehow I ran to save my life and heard the sound of the bike. When the incident happened with the student, she was so scared that she entered the professor’s house near the incident site at night. According to the student, she stayed in the professor’s house for 20 minutes. When we contacted the professor here, he dropped us till the gate of his house.
The student did not want to pursue the matter further
Vice President of Student Parliament, Pranab Kishore alleged that two days before the incident, four people were involved in the incident at the same place on Wednesday night at 1.30 pm, who had come in two vehicles. He beat a boy and touched a girl from behind. The student did not want to escalate the matter as her parents would raise questions. The student who was beaten up, along with members of the student parliament, had lodged a written complaint at the proctor’s office on Tuesday.
There is no information about the previous incident – Police Commissioner
Meanwhile, Varanasi Police Commissioner Mutha Ashok Jain said that he has no information about the previous incident. I was at IIT-BHU yesterday evening and held meetings with officials. They didn’t tell me about this. I have to ask. We will find out about it. Varanasi’s Assistant Police Commissioner (Bhelupur) Praveen Kumar Singh said that we have contacted the proctor’s office regarding the previous incident. They didn’t tell us about it. We are investigating it and will take appropriate action. When asked about the investigation of Wednesday’s incident, the ACP said that we are moving forward with the help of CCTV footage. We have interrogated several people and three teams are working to trace the accused with the help of electronic and manual surveillance. We should be able to arrest the accused soon.
There is a gathering of outsiders in the campus
A female member of the Student Parliament, on the condition of anonymity, said that the previous incident was also on the same pattern. At around 1 o’clock in the night, some people in vehicles targeted a boy and a girl at a deserted place. A particular area here has become a picnic spot, where men come in SUVs with black windows, drink alcohol and misbehave with girl students. Another student said that we see these cars every day. They tease the girls, abuse them and leave. Whenever such an incident happens, security is tightened but things go back to the way they were.
Barricades in the campus will remain closed from 10 pm to 5 am from now on.
When asked about Monday’s incident, Vikas Kumar Dubey, Dean (Research and Development), IIT-BHU, said that look, it is difficult to say whether these were the same four people. But a small incident is being reported from the Proctor’s office. Action was being taken in the matter. Work is already being done in coordination with the district administration. District administration officials are already working to improve the security arrangements in the campus. Our directors are also working on the issues of any lack of safety of the students. I can say that whatever the exact complaint was, it was informed to the local police station. I don’t think it is right to tell that incident. Our student faced abuse. What actually happened is under investigation. Police will take action. Things will become clear once the accused are arrested. Giving these details now may affect the investigation. On Thursday, after widespread protests by students, the IIT-BHU administration had issued a notice, in which it was said that from now on all the barricades in the campus will remain closed from 10 pm to 5 am.
The institute issued a statement on Friday saying that the institute’s security personnel and police personnel will be deployed at important blocking points/entry points, main crossings and intersections of the institute, who will assist the existing proctorial board security personnel. It said that the internal complaints committee of the institute will be reconstituted within three days and students will also be made members. A police pink booth is being set up in the campus. A place has been identified where women policemen will be present.