Bhubaneswar: Director-general of police R.P. Sharma on Tuesday asked district police to initiate steps to issue advisories for cops to curb crimes in educational institutes.
The decision came in the wake of the rape of a medical student by a hostel attendant on a college campus in Bhubaneswar in December last. "Instances of students indulging in criminal activities are increasing day by day and has emerged as a concern for the police, college authorities and parents. We will seriously deal with criminal activities among students in educational institutes," said Sharma.
The involvement of students, especially those studying engineering, in rape, criminal assault, snatching, eve-teasing and molestation is a major concern for the police, who had to deal with the growing trend of sharing nude photographs and sex clips on social media, police sources said.
Official statistics suggest that 86 engineering students had been arrested in 2014 for various crimes, including law and order. The number went down to 46 in 2015. However, it shot up to 96 with 123 engineering students held by November 2017 for various crimes. The police said that around 80 per cent of students arrested were from Bhubaneswar.
Sharma has also issued an advisory for the police and the college authorities, asking for regular drives against sale of tobacco and other drugs near the educational institutes. It also includes police patrolling, action against non-students, deployment of plaincloth policemen and sensitising students on the repercussions of such crimes.
He has also asked the police stations concerned to remain in touch with the college authorities. The police said they would conduct awareness drives among students to make them understand that their criminal involvements could have adverse effects on their job prospects.
They have also asked the educational institutes to construct boundary walls to prevent the entry of outsiders and install CCTV cameras in vulnerable areas such as hostels and canteens. The cops advised institute authorities to create a database of students and share the same with them.
