Delhi Police have registered a gang rape case following allegations by an 18-year-old first-year BTech student at Delhi’s South Asian University who claims she was sexually assaulted by four unidentified men inside the campus on Sunday evening. The case involves disturbing allegations of prolonged blackmail, morphed photographs, threats, and an attempted forced consumption of what the victim identified as an abortion pill.
The incident has also raised serious questions about the university administration’s response, with the victim alleging that officials dismissed her complaints, advised her to bathe and change clothes, and prevented her from contacting her parents immediately after the assault.
The Threatening Emails: How It Started
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According to the FIR accessed by HT, the victim had been receiving threatening emails from an unknown address for two to three days before the assault. The first email demanded she meet near the campus guest house in Maidan Garhi at 11:27 pm on Saturday. She did not comply with this demand.
The following day, another email written in allegedly obscene language instructed her to come outside her hostel block. The student showed these messages to three friends who went to check the specified location at the mentioned time but found no one there. Her friends told her to relax and rest as she was stressed by the threats.
Morphed Photos And Escalating Threats
The situation escalated dramatically on Sunday when the victim received morphed obscene photographs of herself via WhatsApp and Telegram. The images had been created using her display picture, she alleged. The accompanying messages threatened that these photographs would be circulated among students if she failed to appear at Gate Number 3.
Unable to reach her friends by phone, she informed another friend but then stopped answering calls due to distress, according to the FIR.
The Alleged Assault: What The Victim Says Happened
The victim stated in her FIR that she deliberately took a less crowded route toward the university’s convocation centre, where construction is ongoing. She sat near the construction site where a security guard was present. The guard summoned a middle-aged man, and shortly afterward, two younger men arrived, she alleged.
According to her complaint, the four men forced her into an empty room near the convocation centre where they sexually assaulted her. During the assault, one attacker attempted to force a pill into her mouth, which she claims she spat out. The victim identified this as an abortion pill in the FIR.
The FIR reportedly quotes the victim describing the assault: someone put a foot on her thigh, someone held her eyes, and someone came near her ear saying they would kill her child.
The alleged assailants fled when they heard people exiting the nearby mess. After the assault, the victim was disoriented and traumatized, and was later found by friends near the campus theatre.
The Administration’s Alleged Response
The FIR includes serious allegations about how university officials handled the situation after the victim reported the assault. Despite a doctor emphasizing the seriousness of the situation, the hostel in-charge allegedly dismissed her account and instead made allegations against female students.
The victim’s friends advised her to involve police and seek medical attention, but the hostel in-charge allegedly told the victim to take a bath and change clothes. The victim also claimed that officials prevented her from contacting her mother or outsiders and physically obstructed her from showing her injuries to her parents via video call.
According to the FIR, the victim stated that the administration was not taking her seriously and not allowing her to involve any outsider. She wanted to video call her mother to show her the bruises, but the hostel in-charge and a guard were covering her, she alleged.
How The Police Were Finally Contacted
A PCR call was eventually made by the victim’s friend on Monday afternoon. A female sub-inspector and team responded but found the victim too distressed to speak initially. After counselling and a medical examination at Madan Mohan Malviya Hospital, her formal statement was recorded early Tuesday morning.
The Investigation: What Police Are Saying
Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Ankit Chauhan confirmed that an FIR has been filed based on the victim’s statement, adding that the case is being investigated with due sensitivity and priority.
