IIT Madras rape case: One held from Bengal, says police – Hindustan Times

A special investigation team of Chennai police has detained one of the seven accused persons in West Bengal in the alleged rape and sexual harassment case filed by a fellow Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras student last year, officials said on Monday.

“We have produced him in a court in Kolkata, and procedures are ongoing to obtain a transit. We have not yet made any arrests,” investigating officer Subramanian told HT. The detained person is also the main accused in the case and a research scholar, police said.

The 29-year-old victim, who is a Dalit student, has accused 7 persons of rape and sexual harassment, four of whom belong to Bengal, and the remaining are from Tamil Nadu’s Trichy, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, respectively, said P Suganthi, general secretary All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), which took up the victim’s case and sought justice to her and stringent action against the perpetrators. Two of them are staff, including a PhD co-guide, a lab assistant and the remaining are the victim’s peers.

In August 2020, the victim filed a complaint with the IIT-Madras. “The institute immediately forwarded the matter to CCASH (Complaints Committee Against Sexual Harassment) for investigation,” said a statement from them.

The internal report of CCASH found four of them guilty of abusing her and the remaining three of helping the main accused. “The accused were told not to enter campus, but they still did which provoked the victim to file a police complaint,” said Suganthi.

She filed a complaint with the Mylapore All Women’s Police Station in January 2021, a CSR was registered in March, and an FIR was lodged in June 2021.

The police booked the accused under sections 506(1) (punishment for criminal intimidation), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354B (assault or use of unlawful force to woman with intent to disrobe), and 354C (voyeurism) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The FIR did not include charges of rape and provisions of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989.

In her complaint, the victim stated that she was sexually assaulted and harassed from 2017 to 2020, and raped twice – once in a lab on campus and another time when they were on a tour to Karnataka, which was arranged by the institution in 2018.

The main accused raped and filmed her and had shared photos of her with other accused, the victim said in the complaint. “Using her photos, they threatened her and assaulted her,” Suganthi said. “They groped and body-shamed her when she was working in the lab. They have even used her caste against her to say someone like her can never complain against them. The accused are well to do upper-caste men. When she complained to her co-guide, he also discriminated against her based on her caste, saying that she cannot go up against such men.”

Meanwhile, the victim sent petitions to the National Commission for Women, the SC/ST Commission, the Tamil Nadu DGP and others in the government. “Her friends watched Jai Bhim and had an idea to approach Justice Chandru (on whose real-life story of fighting against a custodial death of a tribal man the film is based),” said Suganthi. “Justice Chandru connected her to AIDWA and rang up the city police commissioner, after which the investigating officer was changed to Subramanian.”

AIDWA has helped the victim with counselling given her mental agony.

IIT Madras on Monday said that they are extending full support to the police.

“The institute has also extended all support to her during the external investigation, even after her scholarship period ended. The student continues to stay on campus, and the institute is extending all support required to enable her to complete her degree. We empathise with the student and will support her through this,” the institute’s statement read.