3 men strip, molest IIT-BHU student; make video of the act

A student of IIT-Benares Hindu University, Varanasi, was allegedly molested and stripped by three motorcycle-borne men, who also recorded a video of the act, near her hostel, the police said on Thursday.

Hundreds of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) students held a protest on Thursday. They claimed outside elements were involved in the incident and demanded that outsiders be banned from entering the campus.

According to a complaint lodged by the woman, she had gone out of her hostel with a friend on Wednesday night. They were near the Karman Baba temple when three men came there on a motorcycle, forcibly took her to a corner and gagged her after separating her from her friend.

The accused then stripped the woman, made a video of her and clicked photos. They let her go after 15 minutes and took her phone number, the complaint stated.

On the basis of the woman's complaint, an FIR has been registered under Section 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under provisions of the IT Act at Lanka police station, the police said.

Efforts are being made to identify the accused, they said.

Students gathered near IIT-BHU's Rajputana Hostel and protested against the incident.

After the incident, IIT-BHU registrar Rajan Srivastava issued directions that all barricades around the campus premises should be put in place from 10 pm to 5 am to ensure a safe environment for all employees and students of the institute.

The security guard on night duty will only allow vehicles with BHU stickers and people with BHU identity cards to enter the premises, he said.

In a post on X, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra asked if top institutions like IITs are not safe now.

"A woman student of IIT, BHU has been sexually assaulted in Varanasi. Some time back, the woman student was subjected to heart-wrenching violence on the university campus. The brazen attackers have also made a video of the incident. IIT students are protesting against the incident," the Congress general secretary said in Hindi.

"Are BHU campuses and even top institutions like IITs not safe now? Is it no longer possible for a woman student in the Prime Minister's constituency to walk fearlessly inside her own educational institution," she asked.