Tension grips UoH after Hindi professor sexually harasses foreign student; protest rock campus

Hyderabad: Protests rocked the University of Hyderabad after a foreign student was allegedly sexually assaulted by a senior professor of the Hindi department.

Sabari G Rajan, one of the students who accompanied the Thai national to the health center, said the girl was severely traumatized by the incident.

Rajan said she was not comfortable talking in both English and Hindi. She gestured to the other students about what had happened.

DCP Madhapur said that a case has been booked against Professor Ravi Ranjan under Section 354 and Section 354 A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). He has been taken into custody

However DCP Madhapur said that it is not a case of sexual assault and it is an attempt to sexual assault and hence no semen samples have been taken from the accused.

"After the class, at around 5 pm, the girl was taken to the professor's residence at Kondapur, where he stayed alone. At around 9:30 pm, the girl was dropped back at the Tagore International hostel. She was weeping. On inquiry, she said that the professor had forced her to consume alcohol and that he touched her inappropriately," said Sabari.

Protesting students closed the main gate and shouted slogans. Protesters `demanded the suspension of accused professor Ravi Ranja.

Gopi Swamy from the Ambedkar Students Union said that Registrar was reluctant to take action till Saturday morning. "Director of Foreign Exchange Programme had given a written complaint to the Registrar. But the formal complaint to the police should go from the Registrar," he said.

According to sources, the girl is scared to file a police complaint.

The response from the university is awaited.

This is a developing story. It will be updated once we get more details.