Santiniketan, Jan. 6: A girl student’s murder in her room today exposed the state of security at Visva-Bharati hostels.

Shaken by the loss of Rabindranath Tagore’s Nobel medal to burglars four years ago, the university today struggled to come to terms with the murder on campus.

According to students, several incidents of boys harassing girls have taken place on the campus and in the Ananda Sadan hostel over the years.

Girls have been molested, while asleep, through windows at night or attacked on the corridors but the authorities have not woken up.

“Scared of attacks, we keep our windows shut through the year now,” said a Kala Bhavan student on condition of anonymity.

“Some outsiders had tried to break one of the windows open one night. We have repeatedly told the authorities to provide security but nothing has happened.”

Official complaints were lodged with the vice-chancellor, the chief security officer and the hostel superviser la- st November about outsiders trying to break into the girls’ hostel at night.

Chief security officer Swapan Mukherjee today admit- ted that “some outsiders had tried to create nuisance in the hostel” in November.

He added that “precautionary measures had been taken” but the students said they saw none of them.

The minimum step, posting a member of the university’s watch-and-ward unit at the entrance to the girls’ hostel, was allegedly not taken.

Mukherjee did not elaborate on what he meant by “precautionary measures”.

He defended the absence of security guards in hostels. “We do not have enough employees to deploy guards at the 22 girls’ hostels.”

Guards from a private security agency had been stationed at three checkposts on the roads leading to Sriniketan, Bolpur station and Goalpara and at the entry points to certain parts of the university after the Nobel heist on March 25, 2004.

Only about 50 of them man the 1,266-acre campus. These guards, deployed under instructions from the University Grants Commission, also patrol the university at night.

Besides, the university has its own security, the watch-and-ward department.

A Kala Bhavan student said: “The less said about the night vigil the better. The subdivisional police officer paid a surprise visit to the Uttarayan complex and caught two private guards snoring. Even a tree can get stolen here (see box).”

Some, however, blamed a moral decline for trouble on the campus.

Former Patha Bhavan principal and ashramite Supri- ya Tagore said “Rabindrana-th Tagore’s ideas on free mixing” could not be followed any longer.

“The ambience of Visva-Bharati has changed. In the changed context, the administration should impose restrictions on the campus.”