In the Udupi College case, by penalising the whistle-blowers, and acting reluctantly against the accused, is the government of Karnataka failing its women? Organiser in conversation with activist Rashmi Samant, who first managed to garner attention for the girls affected by the bathroom voyeurism, but in the process became the target of both the state police and communal threats online…
The incident occurred on July 18, 2023, in the afternoon, when the victim student visited the restroom and saw a hand-held camera phone above the door recording her activities. When she came out, she recognised the girls who were filming her. Apparently, at first, the culprits were let go by the authorities with a slight warning and a short suspension, and one doesn’t know if they still had their phones long enough to delete the evidence. Two-three more girls came out and shared the same complaint, and that’s when it appeared in the local newspaper. The clipping of this news was then shared with me, and I only reposted the news, not any “misinformation” or “fake news”, it was an incident properly reported by a lot of the local media. However, my issue was the laxity with which it was being addressed. The victim’s family was ‘strongly advised’ to not go to the police and when other students protested, they were not allowed to meet the media or any social organisation.
Slowly, more students came out in protest, in what seemed like a well-thought-out, planned operation against girls of the Hindu community by girls of the Muslim community. But, apparently, as a big percentage of the administration is also from the Muslim community, it seems like the incident was being trivialised, and the victims were being advised to not involve the police at first.
As a lot of students started protesting, and the protests took both a political and communal turn, my tweets also garnered a lot more speed and attention. But the main problem was that no one was satisfied with the severity of the action or seriousness of the investigation.
When did you realise you were under attack for your Tweets?
I realised something was wrong when the police came to my house at night. Anyway, this was illegal, as they had no right to question me, a lady, at night, without a warrant or any documentation—especially as I was only highlighting what was already in the public domain—without any addition or exaggeration from my end. I’m very well within my rights to amplify a piece of news. But then they got into a seriously intimidating mode, asking my very old, established, and reputed family about our business details, my whereabouts, their whereabouts etc. They said it’s just a “chat”, but it made us all very uncomfortable and concerned. Even after the visit, for the next few days, my father kept getting calls from various “police stations” asking irrelevant questions—clearly as an intimidation tactic.
Besides the State Government and the local police, how else did you feel attacked?
Online players like Zubair of Alt-News, tried very hard to first flip the narrative, then calling it an innocent “college prank” and then directing all their social media might at me, by subtly inciting their mob following against me. But people like him still don’t frazzle me as much as I was let down by the state machinery, who tried to pressure me –an upstanding citizen to delete my tweets.
What’s the way forward?
Unlike what people might think, it was genuinely a more gender issue than communal. I have been seriously concerned about the safety of women in the state of Karnataka, especially after seeing the complicity of the players involved. I think the victims here deserve a proper investigation, and not just a primitive report like, “Nothing is found on the phones”. The police, instead of coming after whistle-blowers should focus on the depth and extent of the incident. The girls also need mental assurance and rehabilitation. I’ve been the head of the student body at Oxford, and nowhere in the world are the victims penalised so much. The administration, the police and the state government should be held accountable for women’s safety.
