A massive protest erupted on the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) campus on Thursday, October 19 over alleged sexual assault on a female student late on Wednesday night.
This incident comes a day after the students protested peacefully for more than 24 hours, for the SPARSH (Sensitisation, Prevention, And Redressal of Sexual Harassment) committee elections, demanding a safe space that is sensitised against all forms of sexual harassment and violence.
They have alleged that since June, SPARSH has been defunct with each professor claiming they are not in charge of it. SPARSH was constituted under an EFLU ordinance and is based on the Protection of Women from Sexual Harassment Act 2013.
According to protestors, a PG student was sexually assaulted by two persons near an old health centre around 10 pm on Wednesday, October 18 and was found in an unconscious state.
The students claimed that despite the victim clearly saying that the perpetrators told her, “We saw you at the frontline of the protest,” the health centre officials treated this matter with insensitivity. Furthermore, they discouraged any attempts by the students to make the matter public.
Irked by the faculty’s response, over 400 students staged another protest on the campus at 4:20 am on Thursday, October 19, demanding the arrest of the suspects.However, the city police soon reached the campus to disperse the students.
At around 1 am on October 20, the protest intensified as the students were allegedly shouted at and threatened by the police to disperse immediately.
Subsequently, three police officers allegedly picked up a male student and dragged him
through the roads to detain him. However, he managed to escape with the help of some students.On the other hand, the VC and the proctor left the campus with the aid of the police.
