Spiteful college threatens students with sexual abuse

In a dental college in Beed firstyear students are forced to perform their practicals on a sixyearold cadaver foul and fetid The lectures seldom occur as there is hardly any teaching faculty or other staff Pupils are made to sit with fans and lights switched off They have also been asked to pay the electricity bill The college has no laboratory or equipment vital for students studying to be doctors And there are no practicals for biochemistry physiology and dental histology Scared Sarangdhar Kadam and Ganpat Bhowad below brought their daughters studying in the college to Mumbai While these allegations are only slightly more startling than the generally abject state of ldquohigherrdquo education in the country something more wretched transpired at the institute Aditya Dental College Sixteen students from the college have had to leave it for fear of sexual abuse from the authorities Thirteen of the institutersquos students from Mumbai and three from Nagpur decided to exit yesterday when the chairperson of the college Aditi Sarda allegedly threatened six girl students on Tuesday that she would see to it that they are sexually abused The students and their parents approached the police and district collector the next day but in vain Girls locked up The incident occurred in the girlsrsquo hostel after the students started a signature campaign demanding an improvement in the college infrastructure ldquoThis got the chairpersonrsquos danders up She stormed into the girlsrsquo hostel with two male professors and made a statement in front of them that she would make us sleep with them one by one ldquoThen she had us locked up in some quarters We were shocked and frightened I called up my father who came the next day to take me awayrdquo a firstyear student Ruhi Bhawsar name changed said The 16 students have come down to Mumbai to meet the secretary of medical education and drugs department IS Chahal to submit their complaints They are demanding for a transfer to other colleges as ldquowe fear the apathetic begrudging management would ruin our careerrdquo It doesnrsquot help that many students have taken a loan to pay the college fee ldquoThere are supposed to be two lectures in the college for the 100odd firstyear students and even they are not held regularly When we sit for lectures if at all they happen lights and fans are kept switched off as per Sardarsquos orders Despite paying a fee of Rs 274 lakh we have been asked to pay the electricity bill which is ridiculousrdquo said another student Rotten deeds Said another girl who was threatened ldquoFor anatomy practicals they have given us a decaying cadaver which looks more like a skeleton Most colleges arrange for at least four bodies every year Our college does not have proper preservation facilitiesrdquo She continued ldquoWe kept quiet for three months thinking the management would make some effort to help the situation When none of our concerns were addressed we resorted to a signature campaign which angered our chairman She threatened us she would spoil our character but the cops did not take any cognisance We want a transferrdquo lsquoAwaiting gang rapersquo Ganpat Bhowad parent of a student said ldquoIt was terrifying to know that my daughter was locked in some quarters Sarda has threatened that she would force these students to sleep with professors How can my daughter be safe in such a college Is Maharashtra waiting for a gangrape like the one that shook up Delhirdquo Sarangdhar Kadam another father who brought his daughter back from the college said ldquoIt is shameful that the chairperson made such a statement to our girls On top of that the police have not taken any strict action Do we pay such a huge fee after taking loans to hear such threats We are devastated that neither the Beed collector nor the police have noted our complaintrdquo The other side Aditi Sarda chairman of Aditya Dental College Beed said ldquoAll the allegations made against me are baseless One of the students a class representative took signatures of students to present the complaint and students were not aware of it Only three students have put forward the complaint against the existing facilities There are 92 lecturers in the college with a dean principal etc Out of 100 students only three who are from Mumbai were absent todayrdquo u00a0