By Syed Affan
On March 6, A female student, pursuing Bachelor’s in Library Science was sexually harassed by Vinay Kumar, an office assistant of the Sanghmitra Hostel at the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow. Since then, students have been protesting against the administration’s deliberate mishandling of the issue. Recently, between 16-17 March, the university administration took action against 15 students, suspending 11 and issuing show cause notices to 4, an action students say was “in response to their demands of justice to the victim of sexual harassment”.
A day before the incident, a student said the victim had used a kettle for warm water in her room as she was ill. “She was fined for using it, and her kettle was taken to the office, where the matron, Renu Pandey, and the hostel warden asked her to submit an apology letter,” said Anjali, President of BAPSA, BBAU while talking to The Observer Post.
On March 6, the victim, whose name has been withheld to protect identity, had gone to submit the letter to the office assistant of Sanghmitra Hostel, Vinay Kumar at around 12 Noon. Despite submitting the letter, she was called again by him in the evening.
“Around 3 PM, she was called again by Vinay Kumar, who told her he could help and move the file forward. Then, he touched her inappropriately, subsequently sexually assaulting her,” said Ashwani, a student of the university.
After escaping the assault, she reached out to her friends and approached the Proctorial Office. An application was written by them to the Proctor, VC, and the warden, which The Observer Post has accessed. Despite being aware of the incident, students allege that the warden did not arrive at the office when they, along with the victim, waited for her to address the issue.
This story was originally published in theobserverpost.com. Read the full story here.