In an incident that has raised questions about the functioning of security guards in general, police officers of Kotturpuram range were allegedly stopped from entering the IIT Madras campus recently to attend to a complaint of domestic violence. As repeated requests for entry failed, the police had to take one of the guards to the police station before going to the rescue of the woman who had called the control room.
While highly placed police sources confirmed that the security officer concerned had “rendered an apology,” after which he was let off, the IIT management brushed off the charge of denial of entry, stating that there was some “misunderstanding” at the gates, which was later resolved. Senior police officials, who requested anonymity, said that on August 13, the control room received a call from a woman inside the campus, claiming that her husband was assaulting her. Soon, the concerned station was informed and a constable directed to the campus. When the cop reached the gates, he was allegedly stopped, as the address of the quarters he produced had some flaws. Soon after, a woman sub-inspector also reached the spot in her patrol vehicle. Police claimed she too was refused entry and was asked to contact the Chief Security Officer (CSO) of IIT-M to seek entry.
She called up the Inspector of the Kottupuram station, who reached the spot and picked up the security guard after repeated attempts to contact the CSO failed. Police claimed the quarrel delayed the intervention in the matter by “at least” 40 minutes and said if anything had happened to the woman, it would have led to serious consequences.
But, after an explanation by the CSO, police reportedly released the security officer after seeking a written apology. A case was registered against Ramulu, the man involved in the alleged assault of the woman.
Speaking to Express, IIT-M director Bhaskar Ramamurthi said the cops were never “physically stopped.” He said the guards hail from different States and sometimes do not understand the language. “The address of the complainant had some mistakes and there was a miscommunication,” he said. He added he had met CoP J K Tripathi and sought a meeting with Kotturpuram police so that a procedure could be established to tackle such instances.
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