On Tuesday, 33 students of College of Engineering from Anna University were suspended after a series of clashes due to alleged harassment of a girl.
The New Indian Express reported that the problems started when two final year students physically harassed a girl who is the sister of a second-year student. She had come to the college to attend DJ night organized for the annual cultural festival of the college, Techofes 2017. Both the students were in an inebriated state when they harassed the girl.
On the next day, when the second-year students went to question the final year students about the incident, they were beaten up by them, a student told TNIE. Then the second-year students contacted the organizers of the annual cultural event who are said to be from a rival gang.
The organizers thrashed the final year students after which, the final year students got a gang from outside the college and beat up the second-year students.
Following all this, the college management suspended 33 students.
Some professors also confirmed that the action was taken against the students. Senior police officials told TNIE that clashes had happened and a few students got injured.
Water crisis
Meanwhile, in view of the looming water crisis in TN, Anna University had earlier decided to advance the semester exams by a month to wind up the session before the crisis peaks in summer.
Among the four campuses, three of them receive Metro water. These include the College of Engineering, Guindy (CEG), AC Tech and School of Architecture and Planning (SAP). Madras Institute of Technology (MIT) depends on groundwater, which is reportedly depleting fast.