Close on the heels of the September 21 molestation of an undergrad and brutal police action on protesting students, another girl student of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) was assaulted on campus on Thursday afternoon. However, the university administration, having learnt a lesson from last month’s violence, acted promptly on the victim’s complaint and security staff caught the suspect, a student himself, and handed him over to the police.
Incidentally, Thursday’s episode occurred during a campus visit by the National Commission for Women (NCW) to conduct an inquiry into the September 21 incident. As per sources on the campus, the woman student was going to see a professor when MA (public admin) third-sem student S S Gond grabbed her from behind, dragged her by the hair and thrashed her. However, the girl freed herself and went to the varsity’s proctorial board to lodge a complaint.
The social sciences student described the incident in detail, and Gond was rounded up and handed over to the Lanka police. Station house officer Sanjiv Mishra said a FIR was lodged under Sections 354A, 504, 506, 427 and 323 of the Indian Penal Code. Newly-appointed chief proctor Prof Royana Singh said the quick response team set up by the administration responded to the situation within five minutes of receiving information from the dean of faculty.
The Banaras Hindu University campus was rocked by student protests after a woman student was groped on the way back to her hostel on September 21. That incident triggered protests by students which were put down brutally by the police. The crackdown was widely condemned and led to the departure of vice-chancellor G C Tripathi for the administration’s insensitive handling of the situation and the appointment of a new proctor.
