Veterinary students mauled by miscreant

Unknown assailant breaks into room of two female interns in Silvassa and hits them on head with a stick

Two students of Bombay Veterinary College, Parel, posted for an internship in Silvassa, got a taste of some wild human behaviour when an unidentified miscreant attacked them at their guesthouse in the wee hours yesterday. The students were staying at the guesthouse in Silvassa since Monday. An unknown man allegedly entered their room at 2 am yesterday through a ventilation window and hit the duo on the head with a truncheon leaving them injured.

"We were fast asleep when this person slipped into our room from the bathroom window. The man hit me twice on my head with some heavy stick and by the time I could react he hit my friend too. He fled by jumping out of the bathroom window. We could not see him clearly in the dark," said Vidya Iyer (name changed) one of the
injured girls. Iyer and her classmate Nisha Lambha (name changed) were rushed to a nearby hospital and received stitches for their head injuries. "The person who hit us did not break in with the intention to steal, as all our belongings such as wallet, gold, mobile, among others are untouched," Iyer said.

Place unsafe
Lambha said it was not the first time they had felt queasy about the place. "Last March, when we were posted here, we thought that somebody had knocked on our door. We always used to feel uncomfortable and insecure. We had brought it to the notice of the college management, however no action was taken on it and still the team was sent for an internship. We don't want to go to Silvassa anymore," she said. Dr A M Paturkar, dean (acting in charge) of Bombay Veterinary College said: "As soon as we learnt about the incident we sent our team of doctors. It is unfortunate."

He said he had no idea if the students had complained of the place earlier as he had just taken charge. Paturkar said the six girls who were sent to Silvassa would be posted in Mumbai. A senior official from Silvassa police station said investigations were on and this was the first such a case had been brought to their notice.