Patna, Dec. 20: College girls can heave a sigh of relief. Police have decided to act tough against their tormenters — eve-teasers — loitering outside the institutions.

With complaints of eve-teasing from college authorities flooding the desks of police stations across the city, the cops have decided to act tough and tame the desperate Romeos for good. According to the plan, the men in uniform will conduct “surprise raids” outside the campus of the co-educational and women’s colleges, pounce on those trying to tease the girls and send them straight to lock-ups.

“The aim is to stop the nuisance once and for all. We would kick off the drive either on Wednesday or Thursday,” city superintendent of police (east) Kim told The Telegraph today.

“Raids will be carried out simultaneously at most colleges in the city. A raid on a particular college is not enough to crack the whip on the offenders. Our action will shock all men who try to misbehave with college girls,” she added.

Sources in the police said the cops would do a reccee of the spots before the raids to identify those waiting or loitering outside the college campuses with the sole purpose of teasing girls. “Some people come to colleges to drop or pick up their sisters or wives. We will first be sure of whom to catch. Authorities of various colleges have repeatedly complained to the police that their students were harassed outside campuses,” another police officer said.

The state capital has five women’s colleges — Patna Women’s College and Magadh Mahila College under Patna University and JD Women’s College, Ganga Devi College and Arvind Mahila College under Magadh University. Besides, there are a number of co-educational colleges such as AN College, Patna College, Patna Science College Vanijya Mahavidyalaya and College of Commerce.

The new plan of the police has evoked a positive but cautious response from the students and principals of these colleges.

JD Women’s College principal Usha Singh said: “It is a welcome step. But the police have to ensure that the drive is not called off midway. Our students are a harried lot with many boys, who wait outside the college gate aimlessly, misbehaving with them. We had sent several letters to the police headquarters seeking action against the offenders.”

Asha Singh, the principal of Arvind Mahila College, said: “Three years ago, the police had deputed two constables at all women’s colleges. But the cops did not continue with the drive. People should admit that the college girls are frequently harassed. They keep complaining to us. The police have been apprised of the trouble a number of times.”

What is to be seen is whether the police carry out their new plan in a sustained way. In October, the cops had launched the “Pretty Woman” drive to curb eve-teasing. The police had then planned to catch the criminals with the help of women cops, who would act as bait with their male counterparts.

Till October, over 20 criminals were arrested. But, the drive fizzled out and the police refused to divulge how many offenders were held after October.

“The police start in an impressive way but stopped acting after a while. Boys and even middle-aged men wait outside the gate of our college aimlessly and pass lewd comments at us. Sometimes, they even follow us all the way to our homes. This is frightening. We welcome the new move of the police. But it has to be a sustained effort,” said Shweta Kumari, a Patna Women’s College student.