The Kalapet police have filed a case against the Director of the Academic Staff College of Pondicherry University, S. Hariharan, and security officers Bushan Sudhakar, Gunasegaran and Sam Satish for unlawful detention and assault of a student.
On their part, university officials have filed cases against “around 100 students” for trespassing into the security officer’s office and damaging property worth Rs.50,000. Another case has been filed against the students for breaking the windows of Mr. Hariharan’s quarters and car.
The police said the student, S. Radhakrishnan, of the Tamil Department, had filed a case against four faculty members for detaining him for more than 24 hours on Sunday last and for assaulting him with “bare hands and wooden logs.”
Following this incident, the students staged an agitation on Thursday, demanding that Mr. Hariharan and Mr. Bushan Sudhakar be dismissed.
When the students went to meet Mr. Hariharan at his quarters and found him missing, they damaged the windows of his house and car. They also entered Mr. Bushan’s office and damaged many of the items there.
Radhakrishnan alleged that he was beaten so that he could admit to having entered the girls’ hostel and thrown chilli powder on one of the students on March 3. Later, CCTV footage showed that he had been in the library at the time of the incident.
The police have not yet made any arrest, and the case is under investigation. The accused are absconding, the police said.
The students have also written to the Human Rights Commission.
