Chandigarh: Girl students at Mohali’s Chandigarh University are scared to use the washroom after a video leak sparked huge protests on campus over the past couple of days. While the protests have died down and the university has announced closure for two days, many students from nearby cities have left for home.
Students have alleged that a girl student shot as many as 60 private videos of her hostel mates and forwarded them to her boyfriend in Shimla. They also alleged that some videos were uploaded on social media and porn websites.
Police have, however, denied this. They have said that the girl had shot videos of herself and shared them with her boyfriend. Police have found no other video of any other girl, and said rumour-mongering had led to panic and protests by the students.
The girl, her boyfriend and another boy said to be her former boyfriend have been arrested.
Speaking to NDTV during the protests last evening, many girl students said they were now scared to use the washroom. Police have also started examining if there are hidden cameras in the hostel.
Asked if there is fear among the students, a protesting girl said, “I am a day scholar, but students staying in hostels, obviously they will be afraid.” She alleged that the university administration has bribed the police, so they are not supporting the students.
Another student said there is no consistency in the police statements, “If she forwarded only her video, why is she in the lock-up? Their statements don’t make sense. We want classes to resume, we want everything to be normal, but at the same time, we don’t want confusion.”
Another student protester slammed the hostel warden, who has now been suspended for allegedly misbehaving with the girl students. “Where is that accused warden who said the problem is in your clothes and not in the videos. She said it is because of your clothes that boys make lewd videos. It is because of that warden that girl students are not comfortable sharing anything with the university authorities.”
Senior police officer Navneet Singh Virk told NDTV police found only four videos in the girl’s phone of herself. “She sent them to her boyfriend, nothing else. Her phone has been sent for forensic examination. Also, there was no attempt to suicide.” Yesterday, several social media posts claimed that several girls attempted to die by suicide after their videos were leaked. Police, however, said some girls fainted during the protests.
Arvinder Singh Kang, director for students’ welfare at the university, said, “We registered an FIR so that students are satisfied. Have you found any MMS on social media? It is not there because it does not exist. There has been no death, no suicide attempt. It is a matter of investigation how such rumours spread.”
