Peeping toms trouble hostel inmates

KOCHI: Though ladies hostels are expected to be equipped with adequate security measures, many of the city hostels lack proper systems.There are hostels which do not have security staff or night Watchmen.There have been incidents of outsiders entering the hostel premises and people roaming the compound at odd hours.“Our hostel does not have any watchman for the past three months.The compound wall is not very high and anybody can easily jump inside,” says Varsha who stays at a hostel in Kaloor. The inmates had a weird experience on Tuesday when a man entered the hostel compound at night. “An unidentified man was seen peeping through the window of a room on the first floor around 3 am.He even made noises and tried to wake us up,” she says. The inmates say the intruder got an access to the sunshade of the first floor through the asbestos sheet laid between the floor and the compound wall. “The windows can be opened from outside and the bars are big enough to poke your hand inside and steal anything from there,” says Parvathy, another inmate.The man had a torch with him and it seemed he had no trouble entering the hostel and climbing up the first floor. “We feel he was standing near the window for a long time. The whole hostel woke up when the girls in the room screamed,” she adds. The policemen on night patrol near the place rushed to the hostel when they heard the noise. “The police patrolling is very strong in the area.But somehow he entered the compound and managed to flee before the police arrived,” says the matron. This is no isolated incident, says the inmates of another hostel near Deshabhimani Junction.m “It’s our matron who locks the gate and there is no watchman. We have seen people peeing into the hostel from outside and some even have entered the compound.At first we were terrified, but now we are used to shadows moving out of the window. Even if it is very hot. So we keep the windows closed,” says Asha, an inmate of the hostel. According to police officials the hostels should appoint security guards to make sure that the place is well guarded. “We cover the areas with hostels too as part of our daily patrolling . But there is no option to safeguard the places. The hostel authorities are responsible for it,” says police officials.