IIT Madras: A 24-year-old juice shop worker from Bihar arrested for sexually assaulting student on campus

A 24-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday, August 2, for allegedly sexually assaulting a student on the IIT M (Indian Institute Of Technology Madras) campus nearly a week ago. The accused has been identified as Chandan Kumar from Bihar. He was working in a juice shop at the institute.

As per an email complaint dated July 26, the victim was attacked by the accused when she was on her way back to the institute hostel on a dirt road connecting the new academic complex (NAC) and hospital road inside the campus on the night of June 24, as per a report in The New Indian Express.

The girl fell off the cycle and injured herself badly. "The man grabbed her and tried to sexually assault her. She screamed for help and despite there being multiple security guards near NAC, the hospital and Gajendra Circle, no one came to her rescue," said a police officer.

After a long struggle, she managed to fight him off and ran back on foot, scarred and injured, with a broken cycle. "It was sheer luck that my friend managed to escape this vile encounter, which could have ended much worse. She returned to the hostel alone, shaking and bleeding. It was horrifying to hear of this incident, and the rest of us students feel uncertain of our safety on the premises," the complaint read.

When the issue came to light, the students demanded that the institute take immediate steps to ensure such incidents do not occur again. They requested the IIT-M to not provide unchecked and unsupervised access to hired labourers to student zones, including hostel and academic areas, at night.

IIT-M had initiated a probe after the girl student sent a complaint to the Dean. Chandan Kumar was arrested under section 354(A) of IPC (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and section 4 of TN Women Harassment Act (Whoever commits harassment of a woman in the precincts of any educational institution).