Man held for alleged sexual misconduct with NIT Tiruchirappalli student

TIRUCHIRAPPALLI: A Wi-Fi technician was arrested for alleged sexual misconduct with a girl student at the National Institute of Technology (NIT), here, police said on Friday. The incident which happened in the hostel room of the student on Thursday triggered a spontaneous overnight protest by the NIT students and they had to be pacified by the administration and police.

Through the agitation, the students demanded the arrest of the culprit and also condemned the purported "victim shaming." It was given up later today after the police announced the arrest of the man and an official apologised for the incident, said police. "It has to be ascertained how a male worker was allowed inside the women’s hostel where one of the cameras was not working," Tiruchirappalli superintendent of police Varun Kumar told reporters.

The culprit was arrested immediately after the affected student gave a complaint to the police, he said, and added that women’s safety should be accorded a priority. Women police have been asked to interact with the girl students to ascertain if there had been similar instances in the past, the SP said. The complainant had claimed that the technician entered her room under the pretext of fixing up the Wi-Fi on Thursday night and allegedly misbehaved with her, police said.