Students alleged that incidents of sexual harassment against students were recurring and that the university administration had failed to take proper action despite complaints.
Published Oct 10, 2025 | 12:14 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 10, 2025 | 12:14 PM
At the Pondicherry University, students and members of the Students Federation of India staged a protest.
Synopsis: The protests by the students of Pondicherry Central University condemning the university administration for allegedly covering up repeated incidents of sexual harassment against female students resulted in a police lathi-charge. Police reportedly used force to disperse the protest and arrested several students involved in the demonstration.
The protests by the students of Pondicherry Central University on the night of Thursday, 9 October, condemning the university administration for allegedly covering up repeated incidents of sexual harassment against female students, resulted in a police lathi-charge.
Police reportedly used force to disperse the protest and arrested several students involved in the demonstration.
At the university, students and members of the Students Federation of India staged a protest around 9.30 pm on Thursday, alleging that incidents of sexual harassment against students were recurring and that the university administration had failed to take proper action despite complaints.
They also claimed that the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) was not functioning effectively. The protesters surrounded the Vice-Chancellor’s office, demanding action.
According to the students, their key demands included strict disciplinary action against Women’s Studies professor Sinsu, who was reportedly found guilty by the ICC of sexual harassment; a thorough investigation into audio clips allegedly involving Madhavayya, head of the university’s Karaikal campus, and Praveen, a Physical Education instructor at the Pondicherry campus; and the reconstitution of the ICC in accordance with official regulations.
However, sources from amongst the protests told South First that the university administration refused to accept their demands, and the protest continued late into the night.
The students said that at around 2 am, over 30 police personnel entered the campus and resorted to lathi-charge against the students. Witnesses claimed that police dragged students by their hair, kicked them, and assaulted them during the crackdown.
Meanwhile, in a statement, the SFI Pondicherry Universit unit said in a statment that the outcome of a meeting with the authories was negative.
“On 09.10.2025, SFI Pondicherry University had called for a protest in front of the admin block, against the inactivity of ICC and professors who’ve committed sexual harassment. After eight hours of protest, the administration called for a meeting, ensuring that the VC and the registrar would be present in the meeting. But, both the VC and registrar were not present,” it said.
“The meeting was held only with the DSW (Dean, Studens’ Welfare). When the meeting was over, the outcome was negative. It is a shame that without addressing the students, the vice chancellor ran away in the car. After that, when the students were having a discussion with the OSD outside the admin block, the administration deployed security guards, police and special forces at the protest site. They dragged, harassed and manhandled our fellow comrades. The police detained around 25 comrades,” it added.
The students’ organisation said that people who fought against the sexual harassers and for the safety of all students in the university are in police custody, while the accused professors are roaming freely inside the campus and taking classes regularly.
“The incident which happened today (Thursday) portrays the inhumane attitude of our university officials, consisting of the vice-chancellor, registrar, DSW & OSD. SFI will intensify the protest till all the detained comrades are immediately released and proper actions are taken against the accused professors, staff and other culprits,” it added.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil with inputs from Subash Chandra Bose.)
