IIT-Madras third year B Tech student missing since November last week

Chennai: A third year B Tech student of IIT-Madras has gone missing since November last week, the police said on Monday. A team has commenced investigations, they said.

A native of Andhra Pradesh, Rushik Reddy Korrapati, who is pursuing his dual-degree (B Tech plus M Tech), did not respond to his parents' mobile calls and his father filed a complaint, a senior police officer said. 

In another unrelated case from IIT-M, several research scholars and hostel inmates of the intitute have alleged harassment and violation of their privacy by vigilance officers during checks conducted in their rooms, a charge denied by the Dean of students.

The hostel residents, both men and women, allege that officers barge into rooms, insult and click pictures without consent and their behaviour violates the students' right to privacy and dignity.

The dean of students, M S Sivakumar, said that they had received complaints from students and the vigilance officers have been apprised of the issues and told not to click photographs. He said the charges do not reveal the whole picture, adding checks are conducted by ex-servicemen trained to deal with such issues.

A woman research scholar, who did not wish to be named, alleged that vigilance officials barge into rooms, pull things out and call them names for their personal choices. "We are all adults...It is really demeaning to experience all this. We might have a lot of stuff that we do not want others to see. It need not even be prohibited things. It is a clear violation of our right to privacy and dignity," she said.

An informal report, a compilation of harassment faced by students on campus, initiated by the students last year, had alleged rampant "moral policing" by security personnel, non-academic staff, faculty and fellow students.

The survey had also said students were targeted for the kind of clothes they wore and public display of affection, among others.