Bhubaneswar: Police will crack down on eve teasers and stalkers who loiter around educational institutes here.

Deputy commissioner of police Anup Kumar Sahoo has asked the police stations to intensify patrolling around the educational institutes.

According to official statistics, 43 eve-teasing caseswere registered here between 2015 and 2017.

However, the police admitted that the number of cases were far too less due to the unwillingness of girl students to lodge complaints.

"We urge the students to inform the police about such activity and we assure that their identity will be kept secret. We will also deploy women cops in plainclothes to nab eve-teasers around the educational institutes," Sahoo said.

The Sambalpur police in June had launched WE (woman empowerment) squad in the district to nab stalkers and eve-teasers around educational institutes.

The squad headed by a DSP rank police officer has managed to nab several eve-teasers in a couple of months.

Students often allege that a number of unruly youths assemble near the shops located near educational institutes and pass lewd remarks.

"Some of these outsiders roam around the institutes regularly. A few of them also stalk and follow girls to their homes," said a student of Rama Devi Women's University.

The principal of a city-based college in December 2016 had lodged a complaint with Capital police station alleging that a group of goons were harassing girl students right outside the campus.

The principal has also alleged that one of the goons had also tried to kidnap a girl of the institute but failed to do so after the intervention of college authorities.

The police said that inability of the institute authorities to curb the entry of non-students into the premises was a major problem.

"We will hold a meeting with the authorities of these institutes to take security measures to prevent entry of outsiders," said a cop.