The Delhi police have registered a case after a PhD student was allegedly molested on the JNU campus late on Monday, officers said, adding that efforts to arrest the accused are underway.
According to DCP (Southwest) Gaurav Sharma, on Monday at around 12:45 a.m., the Vasant Kunj North police station received a PCR call regarding the molestation of a student in JNU. Thereafter, a police team reached the spot and it came to the fore that a student pursuing PhD. at the university was walking on the East Gate Road of the university, when a boy came on a bike from inside the campus and tried to molest her.
“The girl raised an alarm and the bike-borne man fled away. A case under IPC section 354 pertaining to outraging the modesty of a woman has been registered and efforts are on to nab the accused,” the DCP said.
Following the incident, there was an uproar at the university with students and teachers demanding action against the private security agency hired by the university administration. The students said that the campus was once a safe space for women but due to the Delhi police and JNU administration’s “callous approach to crimes against women”, it was no longer safe. There was a demand to reinstate the Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH) that was replaced by the Internal Complaints Committee.
“It is extremely concerning that such a grievous incident occurred in campus premises, yet the JNU administration has shown callous attitude and is yet to issue any official statement in support of the survivor. Increase of such incidents on campus is an indication of the inept structure of ICC which is present on campus,” the All India Students’ Association (AISA) said.
It said that the ICC has failed to make the complainants feel secure and has instead regularly indulged in victim-blaming and siding with the assaulter. “The forceful and intentional dilution of GSCASH was done to protect predators via the ICC while continuously trying to discourage the complainant,” the AISA added.
The JNU students’ union conducted a march from the North Gate of the campus to the Vasant Kunj police station on Tuesday evening.
