HYDERABAD: A late-night intrusion by a 20-year-old male youth on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday scared the wits out of the inmates of the women’s hostel situated on the Osmania University campus, forcing the girl students to detain the warden and other university officials for more than three hours in the rooms demanding better security and proper amenities. Police had to intervene and free the officials from confinement in the hostel rooms after pacifying the angry students.According to the police and hostellers, an inmate spotted an intruder in Room No 132 of the main block of the ladies hostel around 3 am. As she raised an alarm, the intruder, a male youth in his teens, took to his heels. The students and university securitymen launched a search on the premises and in nearby areas but the intruder made good his escape. According to students, the intruder was in his teens and was wearing a mask. As they raised an alarm, the youth threatened them with a knife and fled.Police and university authorities suspect that the intruder might have sneaked into the premises from a temporary opening made in the compound wall for the convenience of workers engaged in construction there. Warden Shailaja reached the hostel soon to take stock of the situation but the agitating inmates did not give her a patient hearing. They raised the issue of lack of amenities in the hostel and, on the pretext of taking her around to see the conditions herself, took her inside and locked her in one of the rooms. They staged a dharna later in front of the hostel and had their breakfast on the roads in protest against lack of amenities. Officer on special duty Laxmaiah and another official also reached the place but they too were taken inside and locked up in separate rooms. “The trio were confined in the rooms for nearly three hours and we had to intervene to bring the situation under control and free them,’’ OU police inspector P Ashok said. According to sources, nearly 40 policemen led by Kacheguda assistant commissioner of police K Ramachandran had to enter the hostel premises and free the locked up officials. “The conditions inside the hostel are really horrible. About 10 to 15 girls are crammed in small tin-roofed rooms,’’ a police official who entered the premises said. Similar is the case with other facilities like drainage, bathrooms and toilets. “There are no decent living conditions inside the hostel,’’ Ashok said. Apart from these, the mess is also in a bad state. There are no benches to sit on and there are no fans either, police officials said.Police reportedly mediated with the agitating students and the university authorities and arranged a meeting on June 21 to discuss the issues raised by the hostellers. As an immediate corrective measure, it was decided to close the gap in the compound wall. “We will deploy women constables at the hostel and intensify patrolling near the premises,’’ Ashok said.No case has been booked against the alleged intruder as the police have not received a complaint from the university authorities.
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