BENGALURU: National Commission for Women (NCW) member Khushbu Sundar on Thursday asked people not to give a restroom video incident at a Udupi institute a communal angle and stressed that they had not found any concrete evidence to level any accusation.

“The NCW and the police are diligently doing their job and will conduct the investigation without acting as judges. The NCW is committed to protecting women and does not work with any communal angle in mind,” the NCW member, who was sent to Udupi to investigate a July 18 incident at the Karnataka college.

Sundar said the commission’s focus is on protecting women, irrespective of religion and urged people to avoid giving the incident a communal angle.

According to the first information report (FIR) filed by the police after a political controversy erupted over the incident, three female Muslim students of the private paramedical college set up a phone in the washroom to record a friend on July 18. But they ended up recording another student, a Hindu. The three apologised to the student and deleted the video.

The student, who figured in the now-deleted video, told her friends about the incident and someone informed the college management. On July 19, the college management confiscated three mobile phones,” the FIR said.

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The case, however, took a communal turn with right-wing groups claiming that the suspended students, used hidden cameras to shoot private videos of Hindu girls to circulate them among Muslim men as part of a conspiracy.

According to the FIR, the college management held a press conference on July 25 to clarify the facts and said that the three students confessed to making the video and were later suspended by the authorities.

On Thursday, BJP workers staged a demonstration near Karnataka home minister G Parameshwara’s residence in Bengaluru, alleging that the Congress government was supporting “terrorists”. The BJP’s women’s wing also staged a sit-in demonstration at Freedom Park in Bengaluru while the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), too staged demonstrations against the government in Udupi.

Union Minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar slammed the state government. “Congress government’s inability to deliver the guarantees announced during the elections, has led Siddaramaiah to play appeasement politics in the state.”

Sundar, who was deputed to inquire into the incident by chairperson Rekha Sharma on Wednesday, told reporters: “The investigations are continuing and a comprehensive enquiry is needed. The NCW and the police have found no evidence yet. Until concrete evidence is found, a chargesheet cannot be filed”.

She also asked the media not to jump to conclusions. “This is not about breaking news. This is about students, about women… So we have to wait. We have to wait. This is not a two-minute noodle”.

Sundar, however, stressed that rumours that there were hidden cameras in the toilet were absolutely false. “If there are rumours of hidden cameras in the toilet, please understand there is nill. Nothing to it. Zilch. There is a rumour which is going around… This is an institution and there cannot be any hidden cameras,” she said.

Karnataka home minister G Parameshwara took objection to the NCW probing the case, underlining that the NCW did not send a team to Manipur but sent a member to Udupi.

Parameshwara also clarified a previous statement. “ I have not stated that recording of the video by the girls is a child’s play… Some incidents happen between friends. They end there itself. The college principal has taken action. They have suspended the students. Initiating more action is left to them and we can’t interfere,” he added.

Minister for Women and Child Welfare Lakshmi Hebbalkar, who is also the Udupi district in-charge Minister, accused the BJP of trying to communalise and politicise the issue.

“The police have registered an FIR in connection with the case. I have instructed the SP to initiate action as per the provisions of the law. Strict action will be taken against the accused. There is no need to politicise the incident and the interest of the students is paramount. No one is above the law,” Hebbalkar added.