Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayaraddi on Friday said that the government would take steps to ensure the safety of students, particularly girls, at institutes of higher learning in the State in the wake of a recent incident of a mobile camera found hidden in a women’s washroom of Mangalore University.
Speaking to presspersons on the sidelines of a programme at Ramakrishna Mutt here, he said that Mangalore University was already in the process of installing closed-circuit television cameras at important locations and he expected other institutes to follow suit. The incident at Mangalore University incident was deplorable, the Minister said, and added that the culprits would be caught soon.
To a suggestion that the delay of about nine days for filing the police plaint did mean someone intended to hush up the incident, Mr. Rayaraddi replied in the negative.
The Vice-Chancellor had briefed him in detail about the incident and the steps taken. As it was a sensitive issue, the university did not intend to go public, he said.
The university had inquired into the incident through in-house experts and finally approached the police, he said.
Vice-Chancellor K. Byrappa said that the culprits would be nabbed soon. Enough clues are available and the police should be able to arrest them, he said.
Meanwhile, City Police Commissioner M. Chandra Sekhar told The Hindu that the police were working on some clues and was hopeful of tracing the accused. Apart from the mobile phone evidence, the local intelligence too was on the job. There are no traces of the clippings having been transmitted, he added.
Asked about the permission given by Mangalore University to the BJP to hold a political programme at its auditorium, Mr. Rayaraddi said that Nalin Kumar Kateel, MP, had represented to the university that it was a cultural programme featuring Rani Abbakka.
