Student unions up in arms against CMR controversy

Hyderabad: Students unions on Thursday demanded a through probe and stringent action against those responsible for the shocking incident of videography of girl students in their hostel in CMR Engineering College.

The Students Federation of India (SFI) state president RL Murthy and secretary T Nagaraju demanded for the arrests of hostel warden Priti Reddy, Malla Reddy and Gopal Reddy, and ensure that the alleged videography doen’t find its way into public domain. The SFI leaders alleged that for the past three months, cameras were installed in the bathrooms of the Girls Hostel and videos were recorded. The students questioning the college on proper facilities and fees were reportedly silenced and threatened with releasing the videos in public domain if they continue their tirade against the college management on facilities and fees.

The student leaders alleged that the hostel warden Priti Reddy is in possession of the videography of about 300 girl students and is threatening them into silence. They demanded to investigate the role of one Malla Reddy and Gopal Reddy in the incident and demanded their immediate arrests. The SFI leaders alleged that earlier, several complaints were made against the college, besides incidents of suicides. However, the police and the government did not act, they alleged. The SFI alleged that the students are only demanding proper facilities, stating that quality food is not provided despite hike in the fees.

Meanwhile, the JNTUH Protection Forum leaders Rahu Naik and Gopal Chand met the university Registrar Venkateshwara Rao and demanded immediate seizure of the ground floor CCTV footage of the college from 12:30 AM to 5:30 AM on January 1 and launch an investigation by the university. They demanded the university officials to act tough against the affiliated colleges to ensure such incidents are not repeated.