

KOZHIKODE: Tenhipalam police have registered cases against 25 students of Calicut University's department of physical education for allegedly misbehaving with women students of other departments.

The girls had, in their complaint to the varsity, alleged that the physical education students barged into the venue of a cultural festival organised by students from Lakshadweep on Tuesday night and disrupted the event. They also misbehaved with the female students who were going back to their hostel.

The varsity registrar had forwarded the complaint to the police. The physical education department authorities had on Wednesday suspended 44 of their students in connection with the incident.

Police said that cases have been registered under Section 119 (A) (gestures and acts degrading the dignity of women in public place) of the Kerala Police Act against the accused.

Meanwhile, girl students belonging to the psychology, botany and English departments have also submitted complaints to their department heads alleging harassment and misbehaviour on campus.

One complainant told TOI that girl students have been repeatedly facing harassment from physical education students and from miscreants entering the campus during the last one month.

"There have been many incidents of fire crackers being thrown at girl students. A student of the botany department was grabbed by a miscreant near the indoor stadium. Those who resist are threatened and showered with abuses. Our repeated demands that the varsity authorities enhance security near the women's hostel and restrict entry of people into the campus have been ignored," a women student of the English department said.

Varsity registrar T A Abdul Majeed said the women's complaint committee has been asked to look into complaints on security. "We have already taken steps to enhance security on campus and install enough streetlights on campus roads," he said.

Meanwhile, the physical education department students blockaded the administrative block of the varsity on Thursday and demanded the revocation of the suspension of students. They alleged that there was a deliberate attempt to isolate the physical education department students on the campus.

