Woman student sexually harassed by seniors in Visva Bharati University

In a shocking incident, a first-year student of Visva-Bharati University in Shantiniketan of West Bengal, has alleged that three male students from her college had blackmailed her by allegedly forcing her to strip and later taking obscene photos and videos of her and then threatening to put it up online. The men managed to extract Rs 4,000 from her, said the complaint that the victim, who hails from Sikkim, filed with the university’s sexual harassment committee. Two of allged tormenters were second year students while one was a first year student. All three are absconding. While the reported incident occurred on 8 August, the victim filed a complaint on 26 August when her father came to the university. However, the father and daughter left the town on 29 August without filing a police complaint. Interestingly, the university security personnel accompanied them. [caption id=“attachment_1585303” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The victim and her father were taken to meet university vice-chancellor Sushanta Datta Gupta before they went to Bolpur railway station. The details of this meeting are not known. Now, the victim’s father is alleging that the university told them not to file a complaint with the police and even offered to buy them clothes. Visva-Bharati rubbishes these claims. “I felt insulted yesterday, but I could not say anything. My child has suffered. They are ignoring that and they are offering me money. I am waiting. If they give justice, then fine. If they don’t, I should go to the police,” the father said as quoted by NDTV.com. The vice-chancellor told NDTV, “I got to know of the ghastly incident yesterday. The matter has immediately been referred to the sexual harassment committee. The action to be taken on the guilty will be depend on the findings of this committee.