Intruder enters student’s room: PU girls’ hostel warden removed

Acting on the recommendations of PU dean students welfare to the vice-chancellor, authorities have also suspended three security guards and hostel attendant

Taking strong note of security lapse at Girls Hostel 4, where an unidentified man walked into a student’s room on April 26, Panjab University (PU) authorities have removed the hostel warden, Tammanna R Sahrawat.

Around 3.30 am on April 26, a student living on the third floor of the hostel had woken up and found a man, seemingly intoxicated, in her room. (HT Photo)

Sahrawat is an assistant professor and chairperson of Centre for Systems Biology and Bioinformatics at the varsity.

Till further orders, additional charge of part-time warden of the hostel has been given to Avneet Saini. She is already the warden of the Dr Sushila Nayyar Hostel, formerly known as working women’s hostel.

Acting on the recommendations of dean students welfare to the vice-chancellor, authorities have also suspended three security guards, identified as Madhu Singh Rawat, Karambir Singh and Ravinder Kumar, and hostel attendant Pashupati. All four were missing from the hostel at the time of the incident. Senior assistant Meetu Tyagi has been transferred.

Around 3.30 am on April 26, a student living on the third floor of the hostel had woken up and found a man, seemingly intoxicated, in her room. As she raised the alarm, the accused fled the scene. The university authorities were informed about the incident on Thursday. Police have registered a criminal trespass case against the unidentified intruder.

An inquiry committee has also been constituted to probe the incident and submit their report within 10 days. Speaking about the matter, DSW Jatinder Grover said, “A detailed standing operating procedure, which is to be followed by all hostels, will be framed in the coming days.”

On her part, Sahrawat said, “The student did not contact me. She spoke to the office directly and submitted a request to watch the CCTV footage. She did not mention that such incident had happened. As soon as I found out, I helped her the best I could.”

In a letter to the now former warden, the victim had thanked her for taking the matter seriously, and informing the police and university authorities.