Hundreds of students from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), BHU in Varanasi held a protest on Thursday near the Rajputana Hostel after a female student was allegedly stripped and molested within the campus by three unidentified men on a motorbike.
A First Information Report (FIR) has been registered under Section 354, assault or use of criminal force with the intent to outrage a woman’s modesty, of the IPC, and under provisions of the Information Technology (IT) Act, at Varanasi’s Lanka police station.
Attacked just past noon
The student in her complaint alleged that around 1:30 a.m. on Thursday, when she was taking a walk near the Karman Baba Temple with a friend, three men on a bike attacked her, gagged and kissed her. They then took off her clothes, and recorded photos and videos. When she shouted for help, they threatened to kill her and later fled.
Opposition leader and U.P. Congress In-charge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra reacted sharply and has sought answers on the security situation in campuses of top institutions like the IITs. “A student of IIT, BHU was sexually assaulted in Varanasi. Inside the university campus, a girl student was subjected to heart-wrenching violence. The shameless attackers also made a video of the incident. IIT students are protesting. Are even the campuses of top institutions not safe now? Is it no longer possible for a girl student in the Prime Minister’s constituency to walk fearlessly inside her own institution?,” wrote Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, General Secretary, Congress and U.P. In-charge on X.
Amid the uproar and students demands for increased security and restrictions on outsiders in the IIT premises, the administration, announced that all barricades within the campus will remain closed from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., aiming to create a safer environment for staff and students.
