Three persons were arrested for allegedly molesting and stripping an IIT-BHU student near her hostel in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi in November this year, the police said on Sunday (December 31). The arrested men were identified as Kunal Pandey, Abhishek Chauhan and Saksham Patel, all of whom belonged to the same city. They had allegedly molested the student of the Banaras Hindu University and also recorded a video of the act.
The incident had triggered massive protests by the students of the university where they claimed that the outside elements were involved in the incident and had demanded to ban the outsiders from entering the campus.
3 accused of molesting student expelled by BJP:
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) expelled three of its workers after they were arrested by the Varanasi Police in connection with the molestation of an IIT-BHU student, the party's Varanasi district chief Hansraj Vishwakarma said.
However, he did not reveal their designation and role in the party. The action came after the Opposition attacked the BJP claiming that the accused were its workers.
Speaking about the party's decision, Vishwakarma said, "Definitely their (accused) name have appeared in the police probe following which the party (BJP) expelled them".
On being asked whether the BJP has distanced itself from the accused, Vishwakarma added, "It is not about distancing from the accused. We immediately expelled them from the party and further action will be taken as per the directions of the party leadership."
Victim woman lodged complaint
According to the complaint lodged by the woman, she had gone out of her hostel with a friend at night and they were near the Karman Baba temple when three men came there on a motorcycle, forcibly took her to a corner and gagged her after separating her from her friend.
The accused persons then stripped the woman, made a video of her and clicked pictures. They let her go after 15 minutes and took her phone number, the complaint said.
On the basis of the woman's complaint, an FIR was registered under Section 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under provisions of the IT Act at Lanka police station, the police had said.
Students’ protest
The students had gathered near the IIT-BHU's Rajputana Hostel and staged a protest against the incident, holding placards with messages like “We want justice", "Are we safe?" and "Why is the director silent?".
