‘No truth in it’: NCW's Khushbu Sundar on ‘hidden camera’ claims in Udupi video case

BJP leader Khushbu Sundar dismissed claims of hidden cameras in a college washroom, urging people to avoid giving the incident a communal angle.

Published on: Jul 27, 2023, 18:17:49 IST

By HT News Desk

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National Commission for Women (NCW) member and BJP leader Khushbu Sundar on Thursday dismissed the claims of “hidden cameras” in the washroom of a private paramedical college, saying there is no truth to it. Sundar visited Netra Jyothi Institute of Allied Health Sciences in Udupi to investigate the case and held talks with the management.

“There are rumours that there were hidden cameras in toilets. There is no truth in it. False videos are going around. It is an institution so there can't be any hidden cameras,” Sundar said.

“We are talking to the police. The investigation from the police department and the investigation from our side will continue, and we'll come to a conclusion very soon,” she added.

Sundar's statement came after the incident took a communal turn, with right-wing groups claiming that the suspended students, who were Muslims, used hidden cameras to shoot private videos of Hindu girls, to circulate them among Muslim men as part of a “Jihadi conspiracy”.

Sundar said the commission’s focus is on protecting women, irrespective of religion and urged people to avoid giving the incident a communal angle.

“The NCW and the police are diligently doing their job and will conduct the investigation without acting as judges. The NCW is committed to protecting women and does not work with any communal angle in mind,” Sundar added.

The Udupi Police has also denied any communal angle to the incident.

“There are a lot of people sharing misinformation and rumours on social media with regard to this incident. Perhaps, they are doing this with some motive. I would like to clarify that though there were reports that there were hidden cameras, as per our information, no such thing was used in this case,” Udupi superintendent of police Akshay Machhindra clarified on Tuesday.

The Malpe police on Wednesday also registered a case against one Kalu Singh Chouhan for allegedly peddling misinformation about the incident. Chouhan allegedly uploaded an edited video on Twitter for disturbing communal harmony, according to police officers. Chouhan deleted the post after the Udupi police raised an objection.

“The video uploaded above is actually from a Chennai-based YouTube channel *Tamil Jailer* on 13/7/23. This video has been edited with a background voice in Kannada to depict that it is related to an incident in Udupi. This video has no correlation with the incident in Udupi,” the SP had tweeted on Monday.

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