‘Kicked & molested': KIIT students allege assault by 3 men near campus in presence of police van
The students allege that the assault happened in front of a police van and KIIT security personnel, but no help was given to them by either.
An FIR has been lodged at the Infocity police station based on the complaint of one of the students, under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections pertaining to wrongful restraint, obscene acts, causing hurt using weapons, attempt to murder, and outraging modesty of a woman.
New Delhi: A group of students from Bhubaneswar's Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) were allegedly threatened with knives and molested by three unknown men in front of Khau Gali near the campus Thursday evening.
According to the students, their clothes were torn and they were kicked on the ground. One of the students alleged she sustained injuries on her private parts in the assault.
Three of the five students that ThePrint spoke to separately gave consistent accounts of the alleged assault.
'My friend's clothes were torn and I was pushed to the ground and kicked all over. The assaulters touched my breasts and private parts. I have sustained injuries in both places,' a first-year law student part of the group told ThePrint.
The female students said they have given separate statements in writing to Assistant Commissioner of Police Sonali Singh.
The reported assault took place the same day that a first-year BTech student Prisha Sah, hailing from Nepal, allegedly died by suicide at the KIIT campus. It is the second such case reported from KIIT in the last three months, with both deceased being Nepali students.
The students who were assaulted Thursday said they had taken active part in the protests that had erupted at the campus this February after the alleged suicide of Nepalese student Prakriti Lamsal. According to the students, they were 'targeted' now because of their part in the protests.
ACP Sonali Singh said a probe in the matter is on and the police are trying to identify the perpetrators. 'If the assault took place in the presence of the police, then we'll investigate that aspect as well, and the cops concerned will be taken to task,' she told ThePrint.
Also Read: A concert, a death, an ambush at dawn. How KIIT horror unfolded
'Pushed on the road, clothes torn'
A group of five students from KIIT visited Khau Gali at 5 pm Thursday to grab a snack, when three men, who seemed to be in an inebriated condition, allegedly attacked them.
The students claim the goons started hurling abuses in Odiya language, which the majority of the students didn't understand.
'We didn't think much of it, since it is not the first time I was verbally abused for being a non-Odiya person in the area,' said a fourth-year male engineering student, who hails from Bihar, adding that 'things escalated fast, and they brandished butcher's knives' at them.
Seeing her friend being threatened with a knife, a third-year computer science student tried to intervene but the men pulled her aside and tore her shirt, she said.
'I was pushed on the road and molested, and my shirt was torn apart,' the student said.
Another woman who came to the students' aid was also assaulted. 'When my friend came to help me button my shirt and provide security, she was attacked too and the men mounted her,' the student said.
Her friend, the first-year law student, alleged that she was pushed to the ground and beaten.
'The assaulters spoke to me in Odiya saying 'you speak about women a lot, you're fighting for a girl, now let me see how many women fight for you',' the law student told ThePrint.
When other classmates pulled the men away from her, they were allegedly attacked with a knife and sustained injuries. The assaulters fled on a bike, they said.
'We went to the PCR van standing there, and even KIIT security. But they told us they could not help. One of the security personnel even said this had to happen since we were wearing shorts,' one of the students said.
'They pulled me in the middle of the street and unbuttoned my shirt and harassed me. I cried for help but onlookers, including shopkeepers, didn't help,' the computer science student said.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also Read: KIIT University staff's behaviour toward Nepali students could harm diplomatic relations
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
India Today
an hour ago
- India Today
Mother-daughter shot dead as gunmen open fire at 3 of family in Patna
Two women died while a man was severely injured after unidentified men shot at the three members of the same family over personal enmity in Bihar's Patna, police said on Monday. The man injured in the shooting has been identified as Dhananjay Mehta, while the two women are his wife, Mahalakshmi, and their 19-year-old said that the mother and daughter died on the spot, while Dhananjay Mehta, who was shot in the leg, has been admitted to Patna's Nalanda Medical College Hospital for further initial investigation revealed that the family had frequent verbal altercations with a group of men who often consumed drugs near their house. Mahalakshmi had repeatedly asked them to take their activities elsewhere, which regularly escalated into heated arguments. After a recent argument between the two sides, the police arrested the young men on complaint of Dhananjay Mehta's family. The shooting incident is being seen as an act of revenge, police who was the eyewitness to the attack, narrated the entire incident to the police while recording his statement from the police have registered a case under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and the police have launched an police have collected the evidence from the crime scene, including the rounds of bullets fired, and are scanning the CCTV footage obtained from the area to ascertain the identity of the YADAV SLAMS LAW & ORDERadvertisementThe shooting incident in Patna has provided Bihar's Opposition parties with an opportunity to attack the Nitish Kumar government over the prevailing law and order situation in the Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav slammed the 20 years of the Nitish Kumar government in the state."Under the nose of the Chief Minister of 20 years, Shri Nitish Kumar, criminals protected by the government entered a house in broad daylight in the capital Patna and shot the mother, daughter and father, in which the mother and daughter died tragically and the father is in critical condition," the former deputy chief minister wrote on X in Hindi."That is why I say that the face of this government of 20 years is black, and the roads are red with blood. Every day criminals are playing Holi of blood in Bihar," he inputs by Rajesh Kumar Jha
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Woman sold as ‘sex slave' rescued by Sikh organizations in Ferozepur
Ferozepur: A woman allegedly sold into sexual slavery by her own relatives has been rescued from a village in this Punjab district, where she was kept in chains, beaten up, and subjected to repeated sexual abuse, as police confirmed on Monday. The survivor is from another Punjab city originally, while Sikh organisations aided her after she escaped captivity and reached a local gurdwara. She is now receiving medical treatment and has filed a formal complaint against her tormentors. Police have registered a case at Kulgarhi police station under sections 143 and 144 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against four individuals, including a woman alleged to be her captor, another woman who is the victim's cousin, and her estranged husband. The alleged captor woman has since been arrested, with further investigations underway. Police sources have claimed that the woman's ordeal began after her husband, an auto-rickshaw driver, remarried and expelled her from their home, keeping custody of their daughter. Rejected by her own parents, she moved in with relatives who sold her ultimately to a woman in Rajasthan for ₹80,000. There, she was forced into prostitution, reportedly. Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Преносими лазерни заваръчни пистолети, 50% отстъпка LYH Купете сега Undo Years later, the alleged captor woman brought the victim to her mother's home at a village in Ferozepur, where she was kept as a domestic slave. The survivor has told police she was chained, raped, and beaten up so severely that her wounds became infested with maggots. Her escape to a gurdwara in Ferozepur marked the turning point. After narrating her ordeal to temple officials, members of the Sikh community helped lodge a police complaint and ensured she received medical attention. Police say more arrests are likely. The incident has sparked outrage in the region, with Sikh groups calling for harsher penalties and state intervention.
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
Newly engaged municipal worker dies by suicide
Rajkot: Barely a month after he got engaged to a woman from Porbandar, a 28-year-old man died by suicide after making a video call to his fiancee, at Khambhaliya town of Devbhumi Dwarka district. Police have begun an investigation and are examining the phone of the deceased, Rakesh Gohil, to get clues on what led to the suicide. Rakesh, a contracted employee of the Khambhaliya municipality, was found hanged in his room late on Friday night. According to police sources and statements from his family members, Rakesh was on a video call with his fiancee shortly before his death. He reportedly told her that he intended to take his own life. Alarmed, the woman alerted her mother, who contacted Sahil, a relative of Rakesh's, asking him to rush to Rakesh's house. Rakesh's mother, who works at a private hospital, was away on duty, and his father, Deepak, was asleep. Sahil arrived at the house and alerted Deepak, who forced open the door to Rakesh's room, only to find him hanged. An accidental death has been registered under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita at Jam Khambhaliya police station. Rakesh's father told police that his son used a scarf to hang himself. Sources said Rakesh was the only son of the family. He had two sisters. Speaking to mediapersons, Manoj Vaghela, president of the Jam Khambhaliya Valmiki Samaj, said Rakesh told his fiancee during their late-night conversation that he was planning to end his life. The conversation they had prior to the act is being investigated, though no conclusive information has emerged yet.
