A woman studying at the English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) in Hyderabad was allegedly sexually assaulted by two unknown persons at 10 pm on Wednesday, October 18. When news of the assault spread across the campus, students started protesting and demanding the resignation of Vice Chancellor Suresh Kumar and Proctor T Samson, leading to an eventual clampdown by the Osmania University police on students late into the night on Thursday, October 19.
According to the survivor’s testimony, “She was walking at around 10 pm when she was attacked near the professor’s quarters on the campus. The attackers are alleged to have said, “We saw you today. This should not happen,” referring to a literary discussion on Palestine that evening. “She wasn’t planning on being part of the discussion. The New Administration Building (NAB) was blocked and students were unable to exit the building," said a friend of the protestor. A member of the Coordination Committee also said that students gathered not for a literary discussion but because they saw that the NAB gate was being measured, presumably to consider fencing it. "There have been attempts to prevent students from accessing the NAB for a long time. Most people were unaware that an Israel-Palestine discussion was even happening," he adds.
When the crowd increased, students got stuck. "She and I were just trying to help our friends exit before an altercation with the security started,” adds the survivor's friend. It is important to note that the discussion, organised by the Muslim Students Federation (MSF) was cancelled and never took place.
The survivor was found at 10:27 pm by one male and one female student near the now dormant Old Health Centre. By 11:30 pm, friends of the survivor were informed following which they approached the Health Centre, and found that the survivor was nursing two bumps on her forehead.
“Despite the presence of around 130 security guards and over 50 CCTV cameras on the campus, the assault took place,” remarked a student.
The sexual assault took place a couple of days after EFLU students headed by the Coordination Committee sat on an all-night protest demanding the reconstitution of SPARSH, EFLU’s committee to deal with cases of sexual harassment.
Also Read: EFLU students in Hyderabad protest all night demanding a sexual harassment committee
Friends of the survivor said that even as the staff at the Health Centre administered a tetanus injection and nursed the survivor’s forehead with an ice pack, they were not sensitive to her situation. ‘Why were you out walking so late?’ the Provost is alleged to have remarked. “The Provost, Anna Mary, also kept asking female students and Monishita, an employee at the Dean of Students Welfare (DSW) to visit the survivor’s room and keep checking on her. The survivor’s anonymity was in peril,” added a friend of the survivor.
Following the ordeal at the Health Centre, the survivor was taken to Yashoda Hospital in Shivaji Nagar at around 1 am, where the preliminary health report was written. Four friends of the survivor and two PhD scholars and some others accompanied her. At this point, nobody from the administration was present even as students alleged that Anna Mary had informed the Proctor about the incident at 10:30 pm.
The following afternoon, the survivor went to the Osmania University police station along with two professors, the warden, two deputy deans of student welfare and four of her friends. Based on her complaint, the police registered an FIR under sections 376 (punishment for rape) and 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). However, a friend of the survivor remarked that the officials were blatantly insensitive to the survivor’s predicament with their line of questioning, further adding to her trauma.
The survivor was then sent to a Bharosa Centre in Hyderabad, where she was counselled. OU police station Station House Officer (SHO) P Anjaneyulu confirmed to TNM that she underwent a medical examination at the Centre and a Medico-Legal report (MLC) had been furnished.
“They were at first unwilling to let anyone accompany her inside the centre. Eventually, they let me go along with her. When she met with the Counsellor, she permitted one of our professors to sit with her as she explained what happened,” said the friend.
Changing the narrative from assault to communalism
With the protests unfurling on one end, the police officials and the University administration are focused on another issue – the alleged spread of communal unrest on campus which has resulted in a deviation from the survivor’s account.
The survivor’s friend added that the professors, who accompanied the students to the OU police station were accused by officials of being ‘fundamentalist Kerala Muslims’. Earlier on Wednesday, the Muslims Student Federation (MSF) attempted to hold a discussion titled ‘Palestine: Perspectives on Literary Resistance’. The University administration denied permission for it.
Speaking to TNM, the East Zone Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Sunil Dutt also remarked that a female professor who accompanied the survivor and other students of the MSF had earlier in the evening held a discussion in favour of Palestine and there was a complaint against them by the University administration for mobilising a crowd which could lead to communal unrest. Two students, however, told TNM that the professor had nothing to do with the Palestine discussion.
The DCP also said that the professors had handled the complaint poorly. “They kept her in the hostel. They should have ideally taken her to the hospital or brought her to the police station,” he said.
“The students had already gone to the Health Centre and Yashoda Hospital. I was called by the Dean of Academics T Samson to the campus at 6:30 am on October 19 to help the student. Two female police officials started recording her statement but then insisted that she accompany them to the police station. I was just trying to be of help. She hadn’t eaten or slept all night,” one of the professors, Professor Uma, told TNM.
The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of EFLU meanwhile, issued a statement regarding the proposed Palestine discussion. The statement read, “The action of the University brought great displeasure to those who wished to conduct the program.” The PRO statement in its second paragraph, acknowledged the assault.
“In another incident, a female student (anonymity maintained) was alleged to have been assaulted by two unidentified persons at around 10 pm on 18.10.2023. The University officials immediately responded to the incident and have been taking the necessary steps including informing the police. The Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) of the University immediately acted upon the incident,” it concluded.
While the PRO’s statements have heavily been condemned by the protesting students, police officials and the University administration are currently in the process of clamping down on protests.
The continual protest and foreseeable backlash
Since 4 am on the intervening night of Wednesday-Thursday, the students have been demanding that Vice Chancellor Suresh Kumar and Proctor T Samson resign. The protestors' demands also include reconstitution of the SPARSH committee (which has been defunct since 2020) and most importantly, justice for the survivor.
When news of the attack spread across campus, EFLU students across party lines mobilised and staged a protest on the intervening night of 18 and 19 October. The protest started at around 4:30 am outside the Proctor’s house within EFLU premises. Within a couple of hours, a few police personnel turned up to keep the protest in check. The protesting students then shifted to Sagar Square, a tea stall and shopping complex at around 10:30 in the morning before eventually settling at the administrative block at 4:30 pm. Slogans of ‘Proctorial Board must resign’, ‘Proctor-VC must resign’ and ‘We want Justice’ echoed across the campus.
Another male protestor remarked that when the Proctor and the Registrar finally addressed the students, they kept trying to dilute the incident of sexual assault by saying, ‘It's a small issue,’ which further infuriated the protestors.
“As the crowd increased, so did the police presence within the campus,” remarks a protestor from the Coordination Committee. Less than a day later, at 1 am on the intervening night of Thursday-Friday, around 70 police officers barricaded the administration block and the police started detaining students. A male protestor at EFLU said that police officials threatened the protestors with detention if they didn’t stop protesting. A few other students were threatened with an FIR and in their attempt to detain students, several students were injured in a scuffle with the police.
A female protestor, who is also a friend of the survivor, said the women were creating a circle around men so that they could prevent them from being detained. In a phone call to this reporter, her male friend said, “I am hiding behind my hostel like I am some criminal. Does this qualify as justice?”