Delhi Police initiates suo motu probe into Gargi incident

New Delhi: A suo motu probe by a senior police officer has been initiated into the alleged manhandling and molestation at the all-girls Gargi College in south Delhi last week, police said on Monday.

“We have initiated suo motu investigations into allegations of molestation and manhandling of students during the annual fest ‘Reverie 2020’,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Atul Thakur told IANS.

An Additional Deputy Commissioner-rank official will head the probe into the incidents on the college campus on February 6, Day 3 of the college annual fest.

A second-year student of political science at the Gargi College told IANS on phone: “Around 6.30 pm on that day, the college ground was milling with crowd. There was no space even to move. I was separated from two of my friends accompanying me… and in 10-15 minutes thereafter, I was groped thrice.”

Asserting that the allegations were a serious issue, College Principal Dr Promila Kumar told IANS: “We had made tight security arrangements, including deployment of police, bouncers and even commandos, along with teaching and non-teaching staff. No one approached us to report any such incident. We were making rounds in the crowd. No doubt there was a large crowd but we were very vigilant and couldn’t see anything of this sort happened.”

Asked about students’ charge that she didn’t help them, the Principal said: “It is false. One of the students approached me. I asked her to stay with me until the situation turned normal but she suddenly disappeared.”

IANS