Canteen worker accused of secretly recording H10 resident in bathroom, taken for interrogation by Police

H10 canteen closed indefinitely

Editors note: We would like to clarify that the video evidence found did not have any person in it. A hastily shot, dark, 3 second clip was found on the canteen worker’s phone, that was taken at the same time the incident occurred. It was suspected that this was an attempt to record a video which led to the workers being taken for interrogation.

We have italicized the changes in the article as well.

18-09-22: The canteen workers of Hostel 10 were taken for interrogation by the Mumbai police, after reports surfaced that one of them attempted to secretly record a video of a resident of the hostel while she was in the bathroom.

The incident happened on Sunday night, when the victim raised the alarm after noticing someone holding a phone through the window slits in one of the bathrooms in H10. She immediately reported the incident to the hostel council and authorities, after which there was a manual checking of the phones of the canteen workers, since they were the only male staff members present at that time in the hostel premises. The quick response team, the ADean SA and Dean SA were also called to the hostel and a hastily shot, dark, 3 second clip was found on one of the canteen worker’s phone. The video was taken around the same time the incident occured because of which it was suspected that the video could have been at attempt at making a recording. An FIR was filed and all the canteen workers were taken for interrogation by the police at around midnight.

The canteen had been closed on Sunday due to pest control and the canteen workers had been given permission to enter the the hostel premises to carry out the pest control. The bathrooms in some wings have windows which overlook a platform-like area that is connected by pipes reaching till the ground floor. The alleged perpetrator climbed the pipes to one such area that enabled him to gain access to the windows into the bathrooms.

The H10 canteen now remains closed indefinitely. Steps are being taken to ensure that the mess staff consists entirely of female workers, barring a few male workers who will be needed to lift heavy loads. Furthermore, they will not be allowed to access the rest of the building.

This act of sexual harassment has caused great distress to the residents, who now feel that they are not safe in their own hostel. Bathrooms that have windows overlooking pipe areas are vulnerable to sight, as are bathrooms that have a considerable gap between the floor and the door (like in H15). Unless the infrastructure of these washrooms is changed, there will always be a possibility of such incidents happening again. There is a noticeable lack of CCTV cameras in most of the lifts and corridors of H10.

According to the hostel rules, all male (students, family or workers) seeking entry into the residential area have to be accompanied by a female. However, Insight has noticed that some unguarded lifts could be used to gain access to the residential area by a person having access to the mess or the common ground floor area. It is also possible to sneak into the common ground area and then access the unsupervised lifts. Furthermore, there are no guards posted in the area where the perpetrator climbed the pipes, which opens up the possibility of someone else climbing them. The hostel council needs to ensure that such breaches of security do not occur.

Incidents like these are likely to happen at any girls' hostel, and have so in the past. The council and authorities should take all possible measures to ensure that the female residential area is not accessible to people with nefarious intentions.