Hyderabad: Protest breaks out at private university over suspected video recording in girls' hostel washroom

Based on preliminary investigations, some "negligence" was found on the part of institute's management, as workers' rooms were constructed behind girls’ hostel.

Students held a protest at a private engineering college in Hyderabad's Medchal after some female students raised suspicion that they were being filmed secretly from their hostel's washroom, police said on Thursday.

Female students alleged that someone had taken videos through the washroom window.(Pixabay/Representative)

A college official cited in a news agency PTI report said they received a complaint from the female students on Wednesday, alleging that someone had taken videos through the washroom window.

Based on preliminary investigations, some "negligence" was found on the part of the institute's management, as workers' rooms were constructed behind the girls’ hostel.

Students protest

The issue led to a protest inside the campus on Wednesday night and Thursday, with members of various student organisations joining the protesting students during demonstrations.

Some protesters were reportedly seen breaking the lock on the college gate, while others scaled the gate to enter the premises. They raised slogans such as "We want justice".

Upon being informed of the issue, a police team arrived at the college.

The female students expressed suspicions that videos had also been recorded earlier in the girls’ washroom, the report quoted a police official as saying.

Five suspects were detained, and their fingerprints were collected, police said, adding that their mobile phones were also analysed, but no videos have been found thus far.

The mobile phones of the cooking staff have also been handed over to the police, the official added.

A case has been registered and further investigations are underway, police added.

The official also mentioned that the college has formed a committee to investigate the matter.

In another recent similar incident, a man was arrested for hiding a mobile phone with its camera turned on inside a women's washroom in a government hospital in Delhi's Dwarka, a police officer said on December 20.

According to the police, the accused was in the housekeeping staff of the hospital.

The incident unfolded after the sudden ringing of the phone grabbed the attention of a woman who had gone to the washroom, the officer said.

"We have arrested the accused who has confessed to keeping a mobile phone inside of the washroom,” he said.

During interrogation he told us that he has been doing this for the last one month, the police officer said.

The mobile phone has been seized and a probe launched, they said.