Police have lathicharged a group of NIFT students, who were holding a protest over a rape case.
Highlights
- The girl had come to the campus from station, a student said
- She was shouting for help, but guards didn't open the gates, he added
- The police deny rape, say the girl was under medication
The Bhubaneshwar police on Saturday lathicharged a group of NIFT students, who were holding a protest, alleging that the guards did not let in a student who got raped last night outside the campus gates despite her cries for help.
The alleged incident took place last night, when the student of the National Institute of Fashion Technology, located in the Kalinga Institute of Technology or KIT campus, had come from the station at 2 am.
The girl allegedly shouted for help, but no security guards rushed to her rescue. Some students from the women's hostel of KIT say they had witnessed the student being chased by three men to the gates of NIFT at 2 am on Saturday. "Our warden said to us that if she's not from KIT then there is no need to help her," a student from KIT said.
"She kept shouting for help, but the guards didn't do anything. She was then raped by three or four people," another student told NDTV. "We want justice."
The police deny that any rape took place, and claim that initial investigations suggest that the girl was under some kind of medication. "We are investigating the CCTV footage but we can say till now that nothing of that sort has happened," said Satyabrat Bhoi, DCP, Bhubaneswar.
The institute has claimed she is not even a student.
"Nothing has happened in KIT campus. It's happened in NIFT. Some rumour flared up and the students want the director to come and talk to them," claimed Dr Sucheta, the director of student services at KIT.
"The girl wants to talk but she is being threatened... They don't want NIFT name to be sullied," said another student who was among the protesters.
Ironically, the protesting lot did not include any students from NIFT. According to some reports, the NIFT students have been asked by their college authorities to not partake in the protests. The gate to the college too remained shut.