An employee of the food court on the Indian Instititute of Technology (IIT) Madras was arrested for allegedly sexually harassing a 20-year-old intern of the institute on Thursday, June 26. The suspect has been identified as Roshan Kumar, hailing from Mumbai, stated a report by The New Indian Express.
The Greater Chennai Police said the incident happened on Wednesday, June 25, around 9.30 pm near the open-air theatre on the campus when the girl, a student of another college and was interning at the IIT, was threatened by the Kumar with a stick. He later allegedly held her by the hair and sexually harassed her, the police said. When the girl started shouting, the man let her go and escaped from the spot.
The survivor later filed a complaint with the security personnel at the institute who launched a search for him in vain. She later filed an official complaint at the Kotturpuram police station.
The police scanned the CCTV footage handed over to them by the institute's security team and took a statement from the survivor which led them to Kumar, who has been working at a snacks and chaat counter inside the Isthara food court for about half a year.
Kumar was arrested under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections for sexual harassment, intimidation and the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act, 1998. He was produced before a magistrate and sent to prison.
IIT Madras has issued an official statement confirming the incident. "An unfortunate incident happened on June 25 where a contractual employee of a vendor operating on campus misbehaved with a girl student visiting from another institute. The student raised an alarm, and the culprit was apprehended by the institute's security and handed over to the police. IIT Madras has zero tolerance towards sexual harassment and is committed to ensuring a safe and secure campus."
