A girl student of the IIT-Madras, who was videographed by a non-teaching staff when she hugged a fellow male student last week, filed a complaint with the Kotturpuram police against him.
The Dean of Students Sivakumar Srinivasan said on Tuesday, “A complaint has been registered by the student with the police and the institute will fully cooperate with the police.”
Police said Udayakumar, a laboratory assistant, passing by the area where the students had gathered, had stopped and video-recorded a male and female student hugging each other. He claimed that he felt their act was obscene as they had continued to hug for “half an hour.” In order to warn them, he shot the scene using his mobile phone, he said.
The students had approached the security staff on campus to help them delete the images as they considered it a violation of their privacy. But the security staff was reluctant. The students later complained to the Institute authorities but there was no response. This led to a ‘hug day’ protest by students on Monday.
The video was deleted at the request of the girl student and both sides were allowed to go after censure, police said.
A survey conducted last year by the students of sexual harassment on campus and how they would like to deal with it found that though such harassment is more from peer groups within their institution and they largely seek in-campus support, it is the same support structure they also express concerns about.
The surveys typically point to girl students, who are far fewer in number, at a disadvantage. They feel, skewed gender ratio puts them in a weak position.
