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Punjabi University students protest after three girls sexually harassed on campus
Victim among two hurt; main gate of the university blocked as students protest against the management over poor security arrangements; demand rustication of the accused
Tension gripped at the Punjabi University, Patiala, when two students, including a girl, got injured in a brawl that took place after some girls were allegedly sexually harassed on campus on Sunday night.
Police have registered a case against unidentified accused under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Case history
The incident took place at around 10:30pm on Sunday, when five students, including three females, from the department of theatre and television were returning to their hostels.
Three unidentified motorcyclists intercepted them on the way and the accused started passing lewd comments at the girls, said the victims.
“First, we avoided it, but then the accused came back again and started hurling abuses and passing absurd comments at us. One of our male friends countered the miscreants for their unruly behaviour,” said one of the victims.
The accused called their friends and started thrashing the victims’ friend, Mehtab Ali, who is a student leader as well. They attacked him with an iron rod on his head.
“All the accused were in an inebriated state. We went inside the Dr BR Ambedkar Hostel for Girls to call the security guards, but they refused to do anything,” a victim added.
Lakhwinder Singh, an activist of the Punjab Students’ Union (PSU), said that one of the girls tried to intervene, but the accused pushed her back and twisted her arm.
“Ali and the girl were rushed to Government Rajindera Hospital. Ali had to get stitches on his head injury, while the girl has received some injuries on her arm,” Lakhwinder said.
Up in arms
Following the incident, students unions, including PSU, All India Students’ Federation (AISF), Punjab Radical Students’ Union, Democratic Students’ Union, and PSU (Lalkar) blocked the main gate of the university and started protesting against the management for poor security arrangements.
The students demand registration of first information (FIR) against the miscreants, besides rustication of the accused from the university.
Dean student welfare (DSW) Dr Tara Singh said that they are monitoring the closed-circuit television camera (CCTV) footages from different places on campus in order to identify the accused.
“We came to know that the miscreants are university students. One of them is an outsider,” the dean said.
He added that steps are being taken to beef up security on the university premises for safety of female students, especially during late evening hours.
Urban Estate station house officer (SHO) Harry Boparai said that the case has already been registered and police have started investigation into the matter.
“We have recorded statements of the injured students and the university authorities. Since, the case has been registered against unknown persons, we are checking CCTV footage of the university’s entry and exit points for their identification,” the SHO said.
The case has been registered under Sections 354 (criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapons), 149 (unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed with a common object), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 34 (acts done by several persons of common intention) of the IPC.
