EFLU students condemn campus assault incident, protest administrative negligence

Hyderabad: Following an incident of physical assault on a MA student in English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) campus on Wednesday night, the students have erupted in protest and demanded resignation of the vice chancellor of the university.

Earlier this week, the student was assaulted by a couple of unidentified persons when she was walking near the old dispensary building, close to Gate Number 3.

After the girl filed a complaint at the Osmania University (OU) Police Station, the police immediately took the victim to Bharosa Centre and filed a report. The CCTV footage of the campus is being checked to nab the culprits.

The students raised slogans against EFLU VC demanding his resignation and said that girls are unsafe in the campus. Asking for justice for the student and demanding punishment for those responsible for the crime, the students prevented VC professor Suresh Kumar from leaving his chamber. The police reached the spot when they came to know about the matter. The VC was finally brought out of the campus at 3 AM.

The incident

The victim was found unconscious by two students and was taken to the University Health Centre. The students alleged that the health centre officials not only treated the matter with insensitivity but also discouraged any attempts from the students’ end to make the matter public.The victim also mentioned a statement made by the perpetrators – “We saw you at the frontline of the protest.”

Backdrop of the incident – Students demanded SPARSH committee

Prior to this incident, the students had been protesting peacefully for more than 24 hours, for the SPARSH (Sensitisation, Prevention, and Redressal of Sexual Harassment) committee elections, demanding a safe space that is sensitized against all forms of sexual harassment and violence.

According to the students, while the protest was peacefully resolved and dispersed, the students were blocked from entering the classrooms in the evening of October 18 in the New Academic Block on an unrelated pretext. Police were summoned to the campus and along with the campus security guards, they forcibly evicted or locked the students inside the stairwell.

Post-incident repercussions

The student body gathered in large numbers after being made aware of the situation around 4.20 AM on October 19. They were briefed about the incident by the friends of the survivor following which they marched to the Proctor’s residence on the campus with a few collective demands.

The students demanded that the perpetrators be identified and punished immediately. The vice-chancellor and the entire Proctorial Board resign for a fair

investigation to take place, as the students collectively expressed their distrust of the administration, given their consistent incompetence and serious lapses in security.

The Proctor spoke to the gathered students around 5 AM, but dismissed their demands, stating that they could not access the CCTV footage. Allegedly, it was not until 6.20 AM that the Proctor contacted the vice-chancellor to inform him of the incident. Allegedly, while discussing with the student body, the proctor proceeded to refer to the attack as a “small incident” and laughed at the outrage from the students. In addition, the registrar publicly demanded the identity of the survivor.

Students’ tussle with the police

The Hyderabad City Police arrived around 5.30 AM and dispersed the protesting students. Due to the poor placement of street lamps and cameras, no CCTV footage of the perpetrators was available. Whatever footage was recovered was grainy and dark in nature. The student body was informed of this negligence by the university administration while at a sit-in protest at the Old Sagar Square.

Around 4.20 PM, students marched to the administrative block to demand a response from the Proctorial Board and the Vice-Chancellor. But even after three hours, the vice-chancellor and the proctor had still not arrived to address the students.

At around 1 AM on October 20, the attempts of the police at intimidating the

peacefully protesting students demanding the vice-chancellor to address them, escalated to a higher level. The students were threatened and asked to disperse off immediately by the police. Afterwards, three police officers randomly picked a male student and dragged him through the roads to detain him, but he managed to escape with the help of some students. After the police intimidated the students,

the vice-chancellor and the proctor left the campus with the aid of police.

Various lapses alleged by students

“We would like to draw attention to the various lapses of the EFL University administration surrounding this incident: The SPARSH committee has been defunct since 2020, in violation of UGC guidelines. This prevents previous victims of sexual harassment from obtaining redressal, and has also created an unsafe environment on the campus.

Despite the high number of security guards, cameras and floodlights, which is clearly disproportionate to the size of the campus, they are not uniformly allocated. While surveillance is high in frequented areas, certain areas are left entirely unsupervised and unsafe.

Throughout the protest, students were surrounded by police and security guards in a clear attempt at intimidation.

The University’s response

When asked about the assault incident, the public relations department of EFLU issued a press statement that the university administration had immediately responded to the incident and had taken the necessary steps including informing the police. “The police officials of the jurisdiction have initiated an investigation into the incident immediately. The Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) of the University has immediately acted upon the incident and is rendering all reasonable assistance to the person in the manner required, pursuant to such duties and functions to be initiated in such incidents, as per rules, ” said the public relations officer of EFLU.

The university spokesperson also said that earlier “a proposed discussion on ‘Palestine: Perspectives on Literary Resistance’ was disallowed to be conducted by the administration of EFLU, pursuant to the inadmissibility to such programmes on the university campus. This programme was said to be planned at the new academic block of the university at 7 PM on October 18 by an organisation, which has an overtly communal background.”