Students Accuse SAU of Inaction, Complicity and Suppressing Sexual Assault Case

An 18-year-old B.Tech student from South Asian University (SAU) in Delhi, alleged attempted gangrape on campus on the night of 12 October. The first-year student, hailing from Motihari in Bihar, described horrid details of the incident in the FIR.

(Image: The Quint/@Vibhushita Singh)

An 18-year-old student, pursuing B.Tech from South Asian University (SAU) in Delhi's Chhatarpur, has alleged attempted gang rape on campus on the night of 12 October, Sunday.

The first-year student, hailing from Motihari in Bihar, described horrid details of the incident—including alleged stalking, morphing photographs to blackmail her and sexual assault—in the First Information Report (FIR) filed at Maidan Garhi police station in South Delhi two days later. 

“I called the hostel in-charge the same night, but she didn’t come until the next morning. Neither did she believe me nor the doctor, who told her that the matter was serious. Instead, she asked a few students to help me bathe and change into fresh clothes,” the survivor alleged in the FIR.

She claimed that the hostel in-charge and SAU administration dissuaded the students from calling the police on the night the incident occurred.  

While accusing SAU of “inaction and complicity,” the students claimed that the university “suppressed the case and obstructed the delivery of justice” and demanded that the girls' hostel in-charge and warden be suspended.  

SAU is an international university funded by SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) nations. It is recognised by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and falls under the ambit of the Union Ministry of External Affairs. The ministry sought a report from the university on 15 October, The Times of India reported, citing sources. 

What happened on Sunday night; what action has SAU taken since then; have the accused been identified and arrested—The Quint finds out:

'Sexually Assaulted By Four Men On SAU Campus' 

The incident happened on Sunday between 8 and 10:30 pm near Gate No.3 of SAU campus.

According to the FIR, the survivor had been receiving lewd and inappropriate emails from an account by the name of ‘Aryan Yash’, asking her to meet him at different locations on campus. Scared, she told her friends about the emails.

“Around 6 pm, I received a message on WhatsApp. The sender had morphed my email profile photo into a nude image. He threatened me to meet him at Gate No.3, or he would circulate the morphed image on students’ emails,” the survivor alleged.

Later in the evening while going to the mess, she walked towards the under-construction Convocation Centre and sat on its stairs. Here, she claimed she was approached by a security guard.

“The security guard called someone on his phone, but I couldn’t hear anything. Thereafter a middle-aged man came, and both these men approached me and started asking me why I was there. As I got up to walk away, two more men came and grabbed me,” the survivor said.

The 18-year-old alleged that the men pinned her to the ground, covered her eyes, tried to tear her clothes, groped her, hit her on the head and tried to drag her to an empty room near the convocation centre. One of the men allegedly forced her to consume a pill, which she spat out.

The survivor said that the men fled when they heard someone drag a mess cart nearby. In shock and traumatised by the incident, the survivor somehow managed to call her friends, who later took her to the girls’ hostel.

'SAU Admin Brushed Off Incident, Students Made PCR Call Day After'

After the incident, the survivor’s friends wanted to immediately register a complaint with the police and take her to the hospital.

“However, neither the hostel in-charge nor the administration took the incident seriously. They did not want any outsider to get involved and sought the Public Relations Officer (PRO) to handle the situation,” the survivor alleged. She claimed that she wasn’t even allowed to speak to her mother freely, with the hostel in-charge and guards hovering over her.

A day after the incident, the survivor and her friends made a PCR call to the Maidan Garhi police station, where she recorded her statement.

An FIR was registered on 14 October against an unknown person under Sections 70, 62, 123, 140(3), 115(2), 126(2), 3(5), which include punishment for attempt to gang rape, poisoning and wrongful restraint.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Ankit Chauhan told TV news channel ABP LIVE that the “case is being investigated with due sensitivity and priority.” No arrests have been made in the case so far.

'No Institutional Support from SAU; Hostel Admin Passed Deeply Insensitive Remarks'

On 14 October, SAU issued a statement, condemning the incident and asserting its “zero tolerance policy on sexual harassment and all forms of violence against women.

In addition, SAU formed an internal Enquiry Committee, comprising four members, to probe the matter and submit a detailed report within ten working days.

Meanwhile, students accused SAU of providing no institutional support and claimed that the hostel administration (in-charge and warden) made deeply insensitive remarks.

“The survivor was asked how she was appearing to be ‘normal’ if her account was true, accused of tearing her own clothes, and even asked her to take a shower, which would have tampered with evidence and interfered with investigative procedures,” the students said in a statement issued on 15 October.

Even as they continue to protest on campus, students underlined two broad demands:

1. An explanation of why the administration is not ensuring that the police fast-track a thorough investigation. Why have the culprits not been identified or arrested as of now?

2. Prima facie suspension of hostel in-charge and warden for negligence of their duties, followed by speedy investigation of their role in delaying the adequate and fair response.

Recording this as not an isolated incident but part of the larger systemic failure, the students stated, “They assure their support at every step but fail to commit when they must step up, which reduces this to mere tokenism making students more vulnerable.”

The Quint has reached out to officials at South Asian University (SAU) and will update the story once they respond.