Chinsurah, Sept. 27: A first-year electrical engineering student of Hooghly Institute of Technology today alleged that 12 members of the college?s SFI-controlled students? union had forced her to kiss them, consume liquor and smoke.
The alleged incident occurred on August 3, soon after she and other freshers joined the institute here, about 55 km from Calcutta.
The student has lodged an official complaint with district superintendent of police Ajoy Kumar against the SFI supporters, including general secretary Surajit Lahiri.
The girl said she and four of her friends were taken to the canteen, detained there for hours and forced to smoke cigarettes. ?I was asked to kiss a third-year student in the presence of the union secretary. When I refused, two third-year students hugged and kissed me, forcing me to oblige,? she said. The assistant secretary of the CPM?s student arm in the institute, Kaushik Seth, was also present in the canteen.
?I was then taken to the students? union room where Surajit asked me to kiss him. He threatened me saying that all the students of the college would kiss me one after another if I refused. I still refused and Surajit forcibly kissed me?,? the student told The Telegraph over phone. ?When some of my friends protested, they were beaten up,? she added.
The SFI supporters allegedly forced the girl to consume alcohol during a college programme on September 9 and asked her to sign a paper saying she had misbehaved in an intoxicated state. The girl refused. ?On Sept 25, the SFI leaders again confined me and some of my friends and forced me to sign the paper. I had no option.? On the basis of that paper, the union demanded I be rusticated from the college,? she said.
The series of incidents was under wraps till she managed to lodge her complaint with principal Ashok De yesterday. De said a meeting has been called on October 1. All students involved in the incident and their guardians have been summoned.
?I will take drastic action against those involved in harassing the girls, if they are proven guilty,? said the principal.
Kumar said a case has been initiated an the Chinsurah police have been asked to probe the charges.
The accused SFI supporters skipped college today.
