Guntur: The alleged ragging and suicide of ANU B. Arch student M. Rishiteswari, despite bringing to the fore the ragging menace prevalent on ANU campus, failed to help curb cases of harassment against students.
While ANU officials went on a damage control mode and implemented strict norms on the campus, desired results were not obtained.
Recently, two cases of harassment occurred and a third case of a junior student harassing a senior girl student came to light. The harassment cases have left the students and parents worried and they are demanding stern action.
On August 7, three senior students were caught by the ANU security while bringing liquor bottles into the campus. Later, a woman guest faculty lecturer lodged a complaint against a male guest faculty and further on September 3, a girl student lodged a complaint against a senior student Balaiah.
In a recent incident, two senior girl students of MBA were harassed by a first year MBA student, A. Haragopal on Friday.
The incident took place at the NRI Hospital, where the MBA (hospital administration) students go thrice-a-week to attend classes. On a similar visit recently, Haragopal verbally abused the girl students and abused and threatened another student Harish Kumar who tried to stop him.
The victims lodged a complaint with ANU rector Prof. K.R.S. Sambasiva Rao and ANU registrar, Prof. P. Rajasekhar, who found the allegations to be true, during an enquiry. Haragopal was suspended for two weeks.
The students also lodged a complaint with Mangalagiri police, and SI Y. Satyanarayana launched a manhunt to nab the accused after registering a case.
Students G. Rani, K. Sankar and others said that though ANU officials have installed CCTV cameras, police picket, private security and increased surveillance, these measures are not yielding desired results as they fail to change the mindset of students. The students opined that awareness programmes would be a better option.
