Male staff masturbates in front of Chennai woman student in hostel lift

Chennai: A large number of students, mostly women, of SRM University at Kattankulathur area in the outskirts of Chennai staged a demonstration inside the campus on Thursday night after a student was allegedly harassed by a male sanitation worker inside a women's hostel lift.

A third year software engineering student who took part in the protest told news agency PTI a second year undergraduate student of the university was allegedly sexually harassed by a male sanitation worker inside a women's hostel lift on Thursday afternoon.

"The man masturbated in front of the woman student in the hostel lift, following which she reported the issue to the authorities," the student told PTI.

According to reports, the second year student had taken the elevator to reach her room in the sixth floor of hostel around 3 pm on Thursday. To her shock, a man who was also inside the elevator allegedly started masturbating in front of her.

As she tried to stop the elevator and rush out, the accused blocked her path. Once the lift stopped at the fourth floor, the student screamed and rushed out crying for help.

According to another protester, the hostel warden, with whom the student had raised the issue, allegedly delayed access to the CCTV footage of the elevator and the registering of a complaint by over two hours.

"The employee was identified by the student in the CCTV footage. However she was asked to stay mum about the incident by the authorities," the protester said, adding that the hostel authorities allegedly blamed the victim.

A twitter page ‘Justice For Women’ which says it is dedicated to highlight the issue of the sexual harassment incident that took place in SRM University, posted an image of the perpetrator and said, “The accused has been apprehended, but we are still unsure of what steps will #SRMUniversity take. The Vice-Chancellor earlier stated that the girls were making a too big issue out of this, nearly no support from the college side has been provided to the students.”

The students alleged inaction by the administration on complaint by the woman student.

SRM University Vice Chancellor Sandeep Sancheti, however, denied the allegations of inaction and said the administration would look into the complaint.

"Students are discussing with us. Whatever the matter is, it will be taken care of. If there is a matter, it will be inquired," Sancheti told PTI.

Local police officials who reached the protest spot told PTI that the protesters dispersed after assurances from the university administration to look into the matter. However, they added that no complaint had been registered yet.