Gauhati University girls’ hostel
May 18 : The boarders of the AT 3 girls’ hostel of Gauhati University nabbed an intruder in the wee hours today who had sneaked into the hostel compound and frightened the girls by knocking on the doors.
University sources said around 3am, two boarders of the third block of AT 3 girls’ hostel (who were staying in the same room) heard someone knocking on the door.
The girls then asked who he was and threatened to call police. But when their threatening did not work, they contacted the other boarders of the hostel over phone who came out and chased the intruder till he was caught by the security guards.
The intruder, who was wearing only a towel and a vest, was later handed over to the police. A knife was seized from him.
The boarders of the girls’ hostels complained that knocking on doors and windows of the hostels has become a common occurrence at night. Earlier, the boarders took the knockings to be antics of monkeys from the nearby hills.
The hostel boarders of AT 3 had also faced a similar incident on May 7 night when an unidentified person attempted to open a window through a broken windowpane, but could not succeed as the boarders raised an alarm. The university suspended two security guards and repaired the windowpane the next day.
The intruder, identified as Lakhyadhar Barman, 32, works under a contractor and hails from Borigaon in Nalbari district. Jalukbari police have registered a case against him.
“Tapping on the doors and windows of the hostel is so frequent that one can expect such incident at least thrice a week on an average,” said Kabita Bora, a boarder.
Yet, the security guards of the university failed to nab a single intruder, till this morning.
“There must have been more than one intruder as we came to know later because several other boarders complained of knockings at the same time,” said Susmita Kalita, another boarder.
“Earlier, the hostel had three security guards. But the number was reduced to one two years ago. We have complained several times to the university authority about the weak security system of the hostels. But there has not been any concrete measure till now,” said another boarder.
The university has 270 security guards, of who around 100 are always on duty. Still, the university has witnessed a series of theft cases in the past three months triggering panic among students.
“We have taken the matter seriously. We will intensify vigil in and around the girls’ hostels,” said a senior official of the university.
The general secretary of the post-graduate students’ union, Hrisikesh Baruah, said as National Highway 37 passes through the university campus, the goons can easily enter the university. They have been demanding the university authority to erect boundary walls and to hand over security to a private agency, but have not received any response so far.
