A short video on social media showing a group of boys allegedly entering the premises of the girls’ hostel of Jamia Millia Islamia late on Thursday and engaging in a brawl on the campus has sparked a debate about a girls’ hostel security breach.
Following the incident, students have demanded a probe into the matter.
ALSO READ: Prof Nadeem Yunus appointed Dean of Faculty of Dentistry at Jamia
“The recent incident in which a group of men barged into the Girls’ Hostel premises under the pretext of a fight is deeply disturbing and unacceptable. Eyewitness accounts clearly indicate that this was not a mere altercation but a deliberate intrusion into a women-only space, putting the safety and dignity of residents at risk. What is even more alarming is that such incidents are not isolated. Repeated breaches expose serious lapses in Jamia’s security system, particularly at hostels located outside the main campus,” said SIO JMI unit on its social media handle.
A top university official told the OT that the story is not as being shown. “If you see the one-minute video then the boys were shooed away soon. And they never entered the girls’ hostel premises as it is a kilometer from the main gate where some boys entered and immediately stopped. The boys were not ruffians but from good family. They might have got into the gate by mistake and then went out also,” said Jamia Chief PRO Saima Saeed.
She pointed out that the hostel premises are very safe and even inmates’ wards are not allowed entry and are made to sit in the waiting room.
However, the SIO JMI unit, in a statement, has strongly condemned this negligence and demanded immediate action from the university administration. Students have also demanded further measures to strengthen hostel security, deployment of adequate female guards, and strict ID-based entry regulation for all male staff.
“Students’ safety is non-negotiable. The administration must act immediately before another such incident occurs,” it said.
According to one student, who lives in the hostel, at least five to six boys entered the premises around 9.30 pm on Thursday.
In the video two girls can be heard telling the guard: “Uncle, why are you not doing anything. These boys fighting among themselves entered the entrance gate by pushing us when we were signing themselves in” said the girl in the video.
A purported video of the incident was circulating on social media without a time stamp. It showed a group of boys fighting among themselves, while a security guard tried to rush them outside the premises. A girl student was also seen telling the boys, asking what they were doing.
The video could not be independently verified by the OT. Hence, the portal did not run the story earlier and waited for the official version to understand the incident in depth. It has been our standard to publish only verified news; otherwise, we prefer to drop the story.
