Sunday, May 19

Dalit Student At BHU Held Hostage And Sodomised By Fellow Student

Edited by Aishwarya Krishnan
Dalit Student At BHU Held Hostage And Sodomised By Fellow Student (image-https://bhuonline.in/)

On Friday, a Dalit student pursuing an MA in Sociology at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) was allegedly assaulted brutally and forced into unnatural sex in the Rajaram University hostel. An FIR has been registered at the Lanka Police Station against the accused.

According to an ETV Bharat report, the lobby of the Rajaram Hostel had a sudden power failure at around 2:45 a.m. on Saturday. The victim, hailing from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, headed out of his room to fix the issue. After seeing that the MCB had tripped, the student bent down to reset it when the victim was allegedly grabbed from behind. The accused forcefully removed his pants and slammed his head into the wall when the victim resisted, he alleged. The accused is a student pursuing a Masters in Personal Management and Industrial Relations.

Although the victim managed to escape, the student claimed that the accused followed him to his room and snatched his phone and sodomised him. The victim also alleged that he was physically assaulted and threatened when he tried to protest.

Furthermore, the victim is alleged to have been kept captive in his room for half an hour. Other students at the hostel informed the warden and the Proctorial Board after hearing the victim’s screams. Around 4 a.m., the team from the Proctorial Board arrived and rescued the Dalit student. The victim was rushed to the trauma centre for treatment. The victim also stated that if the FIR was not registered, he would leave the campus.

As per the FIR, section 377 (unnatural offences), among other sections, has been charged against the accused. Although further details behind the incident remain unknown, police investigations are ongoing.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time an incident of this nature has happened at the university. In February, two BHU final-year students were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting and robbing a 32-year-old doctor inside the hostel. The accused were also allegedly blackmailing the doctor by releasing a video clip of the incident, reported Indian Express.

On August 31, last year, a Dalit assistant professor at BHU was allegedly assaulted, molested, and humiliated in her department by two colleagues. The accused include a woman and two students, according to the newspaper. A case was registered with the Varanasi Police. The victim claimed that the incident had taken place on May 22, but the police had refused to lodge a case until August 27.