An employee at the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly peeping into the women’s washroom at the H10 hostel building.
The accused has been identified as Pintu Garia, 21, a worker from the hostel’s night canteen. As per eyewitnesses, he allegedly climbed a pipe and peeped into the women’s washroom on Sunday night. He was caught after alert hostel residents raised an alarm. A case was filed on Monday and the man was arrested a day later.
Sources said no photo or video was found on his cellphone. Meanwhile, the night canteen has been closed indefinitely and will be operational only after female staff is available.
Two days ago, a similar incident had rocked the Chandigarh University, wherein three persons were arrested after a woman allegedly took photos of students at the hostel.
As per the IIT-B official statement, “The investigation, including cyber investigation, is being carried out by the Mumbai police. The institute, as per the initial report, is not aware of any footage being shared from the phones confiscated from the culprit. We are in discussions with the students to see what other additional steps we can take…” The Dean of Student Council Affairs at IIT-B said he had nothing further to say besides the official statement.
DCP Mahesh Reddy (Zone 10), Powai police station, said, “The ongoing IIT-B case is a molestation case. There have been rumours of an MMS leak, but no video recording or MMS has surfaced as of now. One suspect has been booked under section 354 (molestation).”
The FPJ learnt that as no men were present in the hostel building, the night canteen staff were the first to be inspected. The five staff members who run the night canteen from 3:30 pm to 3 am were interrogated at the Powai police station, after which one of them was arrested for ‘voyeurism’ under the Indian Penal Code by investigating officer S Sawant.
At IIT-Bombay, H10 and H11 buildings make up the girls’ hostels inside the campus. Rules stipulate that male friends and family members are allowed to visit students living in these hostels from 7 am to 9:30 pm, provided the female residents update the entry book, present their IDs, and accompany them.
The Free Press Journal learnt that only hours after the incident, emails were sent to students reinforcing rules which restricted the movement of men in women’s hostels. Moreover, indefinite closure of the night canteen was also communicated. The email also reminded the students of the code of conduct that must be followed at the hostels.
Meanwhile, an update in the students’ college magazine, Insight, revealed a few critical details. As per the magazine, a quick response team, including the assistant and senior assistant deans, was called to the hostel and a hastily shot, dark, three-second clip was found on the canteen worker’s phone. “The video was taken around the same time the incident occurred because of which it was suspected that the video could have been at attempt at making a recording,” read the update.
