The incident reportedly took place on 10th of October. A fifth semester student Jeevan Gowda raped a female student inside the men's washroom on the sixth floor of the campus building. Gowda was arrested on October 15 and has been remanded to judicial custody until October 30. As of now, the student has been suspended and a disciplinary committee has been formed to take necessary actions. The police reported that there was no CCTV on the sixth floor of the campus where the crime had taken place. This is a serious negligence on the behalf of the management despite the institutions claim that all the college floors have CCTV cameras. This exposes the institution's failure and carelessness in ensuring proper surveillance and safety of the students. Even the proctor who was assigned to the female student was unaware of the incident.
This systemic negligence puts the assigned student at risk and tries to shift the blame away from the institution. The university Principal Bheeshma Arya claimed that the university has a robust student support system, yet there's no Gender Sensitization Committee against Sexual Harassment(GSCASH) in the college with student representation.
In the wake of such a heinous crime against a female student, we stand in solidarity with the affected student and put forth the following demands -
- The perpetrator must be charged with stricter laws and brought to justice
- College must constitute a Gender Sensitization Committee Against Sexual Harassment(GSCASH) with elected student representatives
- College must ensure that the CCTV cameras of all the floors are working for the safety and security of the students
- The decisions and actions taken by the disciplinary committee of the college must be openly disclosed5. Male students must mandatorily be sensitised on gender
Resist the patriarchal crimes against women!
