India: Students protest over security lapse in girls hostel, claim ‘saw hands coming out of the ventilator’

Students living in the Osmania University Post Graduate Girls Hostel staged a protest inside the campus on Saturday (Jan 27) after an incident of security lapse was reported.

The students, who were protesting, said they had caught hold of one of the intruders who had entered their hostel premises. However, the police are yet to confirm the number of intruders who entered the hostel.

The students raised the slogan “We want justice" while sitting in front of their hostel as the police personnel persuaded them to leave the spot.

"We are just asking for VC to come. Why is he not coming?" one of the students was heard shouting while another claimed, "We are just trying to pressurise the VC to come."

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Students recount 'horrific' incident

The students started protesting as a series of unsettling incidents took place after they returned from the Sankranti Holidays. The incidents drew their attention to the need to ensure the hostel residents' safety.

Speaking to news agency ANI, one of the student protesters said that various security concerns have been raised by the hostel occupants since they came back from the holidays.

"After we came back from the Sankranti Holidays, we were hearing strange sounds in different rooms. But we thought it might be our mistake," said a student.

The security issues were escalated after one hostel inmatereportedly witnessed someone's hands protruding from the washroom's ventilator both on the ground floor and the first floor.

The student protester, remembering the harrowing ordeal, said, "Yesterday, the incident happened on two of the floors, the ground floor as well as the first floor at the same time. We have ventilators in our washrooms. The washrooms have little space. She (one of the students) locked herself in the washroom. But she saw hands coming out of the ventilator. She panicked and ran."

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Immediately, the students sought help from their seniors to confront the intruders.

"We approached our seniors. We were searching for them. We saw three of them, only one was caught by us. We are demanding the rest who were there to be nabbed," said the protester.

Appealing the Vice-Chancellor (VC) to come to address their issues, the protester said, "We have been sitting here since 12:30..We want the VC to come and address our problem and we want a solution for all our issues. Security is important. We want proper security where we are staying."

(With inputs from agencies)