The former principal of Jaipur’s Women’s Polytechnic College, Mashkoor Ali, has been taken into custody. He has been accused of sexually harassing female students who also protested against him. The police have confirmed the allegations leveled against him. He was arrested following an initial investigation into the charges made against him by the victims. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) inquiry was conducted against him, and the allegations were found to be true. The students also recorded their statements on the matter.
They revealed that Mashkoor Ali had installed a camera in the washroom, and videos were recorded using it. On 3rd February, the college personnel and the female students lodged a complaint with the Secretary of the Technical Education Department, after which a committee was formed. He was suspended after being found guilty in the probe. The inquiry committee then returned to the institution on 10th March for further investigation, during which the students demonstrated. They complained that the investigation was being launched again to save him.
They further conveyed that the accused had been appointed principal in 2023 and had been misbehaving with the female students ever since. They disclosed that he used to sit behind the cupboard in the corner of the library, out of sight of the CCTV cameras and molest his targets there. He even allegedly added himself to the personal WhatsApp group of the students and sent obscene messages to the girls. He reportedly claimed to be in contact with influential persons in order to take the students in his car, where he would molest them in the moving vehicle.
The students unveiled that Mashkoor Ali used to threaten them with making their videos viral on social media if they approached the police or family members, and hence, the victims remained quiet due to fear. “Principal Mashkoor Ali used to say that you (girls) will have to sleep with other people as well. He claimed that he has links with powerful people. He also supplied girls and even threatened to expel them from the college if they did not obey him,” the girls stated while talking to Amar Ujala.
