Labourer arrested for sexually harassing two MBBS interns at Haryana medical college
A labourer allegedly sexually harassed and assaulted two MBBS interns at Bhagat Phool Singh Government Medical College for Women in Khanpur Kalan, prompting a student protest demanding better campus security, police said on Tuesday, Aug 18.
The two separate incidents occurred on the college campus last week, an official at the Women Police Station, Khanpur Kalan, said by phone.
Police registered a case on the interns' complaint and arrested the labourer.
"On August 15, one female doctor was headed towards the library on campus at around 10:30 p.m. Another was going on duty. The accused labourer inappropriately touched them. He targeted both interns as they walked separately, at different times, with a gap of a few minutes between the two incidents," the officer said.
Both interns live in the college's hostels, the official said.
The labourer, who worked at an under-construction site on campus, was arrested on August 16. Police said a case had been registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections 74 (assault or use of criminal force on a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 78 (stalking).
Following the incident, MBBS students staged a dharna outside the institute director's office on Tuesday, demanding adequate security arrangements and more guards on campus.
One protesting student told reporters the labourer had tried to physically and sexually assault the two victims. "They were saved by God; otherwise, worse things could have happened," she said.
"We went to the authorities and raised our security concerns. We had a long meeting with college authorities, who gave assurances — but just a day after the incident, we found no security guard deployed and no lighting installed at the spot where it happened," she said.
"In such an insecure environment, we cannot work like this," she added, noting that campus safety affects not just MBBS students but healthcare workers, doctors and patients alike. "We demand the number of security guards be increased. The campus is large, but the guards are not adequate," she said.
