Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) [India] : Massive protests broke out at the IIT-BHU campus on Thursday with students gathering in large numbers at the institute director’s office demanding better security in the campus.
The protests were triggered after a girl student was allegedly molested by three motorcycle-riders on campus. According to police, on November 2, three bike-borne men committed a ‘heinous’ act against two IIT-BHU students
As per a First Information Report filed by the survivor at the Lanka police station of Varanasi, the complainant was out for a walk on the campus at around 1:30 am with a male friend when a three people on a bike ambushed them from behind. The men separated the pair and dragged the girl to a deserted place, she alleged.
The miscreants forced her to take off her clothes and clicked pictures and videos of her, she alleged.
The complainant alleged that the trio also took away her mobile phone and threatened her before letting her go.
On the complaint of the student, a case has been registered in the Lanka police station of Varanasi under Sections 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman), 504 of IPC (Punishment for criminal intimidation) and 66 of the IIT Act.
Protests at the IIT-BHU campus continued late on Thursday and BHU administration authorities had to give an assurance to the agitating students.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi took to X to post whether it was “no longer possible” for a female student in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi “to walk fearlessly inside her own educational institution.”
“A student of IIT, BHU has been sexually assaulted in Banaras. Some time ago, in the university campus, a girl student was subjected to forceful and heart-wrenching violence. The brazen attackers have also made a video of the incident. IIT students are protesting against the incident. Are BHU campuses and even top institutions like IITs not safe now? Is it no longer possible for a girl student in the Prime Minister’s constituency to walk fearlessly inside her own educational institution?”, Priyanka Gandhi said in a post on X.
Congress’ Uttar Pradesh president Ajay Rai also came down heavily on the university administration and demanded the resignation of the BHU director.
“Such incidents are frequently happening in the IIT-BHU campus. This is utterly shameful…The director of IIT-BHU campus should immediately be expelled”, Rai told.
