New Delhi: A first-year student at Delhi’s South Asian University (SAU) was allegedly gang raped, attempted to be poisoned inside the campus wherein four men targeted her at a secluded spot.
The accused, her complaint mentions, touched her inappropriately, physically assaulted her as well as tried to strip her.
“Based on the statement of the victim, an FIR under appropriate sections has been registered. It is being investigated with due sensitivity and priority,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Ankit Chauhan said. The FIR has been registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections dealing with gangrape, causing hurt by means of poison among others.
A PCR call was received Monday around 3 p.m. informing the police regarding the incident that took place Sunday.
The 18-year-old student, according to the FIR, had first received an email in the name of ‘Aryan Yash’ two-three days ago asking her to meet him near the guest house close to midnight. Another email followed with obscene emojis and lewd remarks mentioning that she isn’t listening, it adds.
The student then informed her friends who then went out to check but there was no one at the spot. “Next day after 6 p.m. in the evening, I received a WhatsApp and Telegram message on my phone that the photo which I had uploaded on the profile of the mail has been made nude, cropped and sent; he said that if I do not come to Gate 3 within an hour, then all the photos will be circulated on the student’s mail ID,” the FIR reads.
ThePrint has a copy of the FIR.
Condemning the incident, the SAU asserted that it has a zero-tolerance policy on sexual harassment and all forms of violence against women.
“We the SAU community, Faculty, Staff and Students stand in solidarity in light of the alleged horrific act of sexual violence that has been reported on campus. The South Asian University condemns this alleged act of sexual violence, in the strongest terms and in one voice. We stand with our students, and assure them of our full support. SAU has a zero-tolerance policy on Sexual Harassment and all forms of violence against women. We strongly condemn, and stand in support, and solidarity,” it said in a statement.
Students, meanwhile, are protesting at the SAU campus since Monday night, demanding suspension of the hostel warden in connection with the incident.
In her FIR, the student mentioned that she informed her friend about the messages and meanwhile she received a message from the same number that she was taking a lot of time and asking her to come to Gate 3 of the university. This, she said, pushed her into panic.
“I went along the path behind the hostel and went to C-Block, where there was a crowd. I was avoiding going among the people. I thought he might be one of them, so I went behind the building. After that, I was going towards the admin block, but I turned where I saw a crowd. Then I went straight towards the convocation centre. Building construction work is going on there, but it is quiet at night, and no one goes there,” the FIR reads.
“After walking a little distance, a guard asked me what happened, so I told him that I was going to the mess to eat. I sat a little away from the guard, then the guard called someone, but I could not hear the guard’s voice. After some time, a middle-aged man came to him, they started talking among themselves and stood a little near me.”
This was followed by the two men asking again what happened and then she saw two others running towards them, she said.
“I got up and started walking, then someone tried to take off my jacket by holding my shoulders. One man put his fingers on both my eyes and was pulling it upwards (read, forced her to open eyes). Another man grabbed my T-shirt and tried to pull it up, but I was pulling it down,” the woman narrates in her complaint.
The men, she said, then allegedly sexually assaulted, hit her and one tried to force her to consume a pill.
“When I was lying down and he was pressing my leg, someone was coming out of Mess-1 with a food cart. Hearing his voice, all four of them ran away from the back side of Mess-1. While fleeing, one of them hit me on the cheek and all of them ran away,” the FIR reads.
The student alleges that while the campus doctor said that the matter was serious, the hostel in charge didn’t pay heed.
The hostel in charge is alleged to have said that, “you guys have many boyfriends…. You guys can’t let them enter through the balcony so instead you guys can go from the balcony anywhere.”
She also alleged that the hostel in charge was contacted the previous night but was informed that she would only arrive in the morning.
While her friends insisted that she needs to be taken to the hospital and her clothes need to be changed, the FIR reads that the hostel incharge insisted that she should shower and change.
The in charge insisted, it alleges, that the PRO should be called instead to “handle” the matter.
It is then that the students called the police. “The administration wasn’t taking it seriously… weren’t ready to involve anyone from outside… I video called mother but the hostel in charge was covering me and not letting me talk or show me injuries. She was removing my phone,” the FIR reads.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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