Fri, 27 Dec, 2024

Insecurity Strikes DWIT Students

By Sabin Pathak

Photo Courtesy: DWIT News “Pradeep and Prastap are studying in Kathmandu. They used to live in a hostel, which was located near their college. Life was easy then. After some months, the hostel was moved to a new location, which was far from college. Due to this, they had to face many problems and had to walk a long distance to reach to the college. They had to manage their time accordingly and get ready earlier. They were not provided with the Internet facility in their hostel. So, if they had to do any task that required Internet, they had to stay in the college. One day, they needed to do a research as an assignment and send the report via email. Because of the Internet problem in their hostel, they had to stay till 9 P.M. The street they had to walk by was dark and quiet in the evening. That day, when they were going to their hostel, they were attacked by some drunkards with the intention to loot them. They tried to get away from the drunkards, but couldn’t. They were helpless and got beaten. They were hurt badly. Then, they were admitted to the hospital by some local people.” This is a story behind the innocent students who entered Kathmandu with the aim to pursue a better education and stayed in the college hostel for easiness and safety. Is this just a story? Yes, this is only a story. Going through the present situation, one can’t guarantee that this won’t happen in the future. The same story might turn into reality. The event that took place on 19 November represents certain portion of the story. It was about 8:45 PM, I and my friend (a student of DWIT) were passing through the road (Abhibhekti Marg). We were at college till that time because we had certain task to do, which required Internet. After packing our accessories (laptop, books, mobile and other belongings) we moved towards our hostel. The road was dark and quiet. At that time, only two of us were passing through that road. Suddenly, we saw three drunkards moving towards us on the other side. We took it as usual and moved forward. As we crossed them, one drunkard started scolding us. Suddenly, he started chasing us. We both started to run. Unfortunately, my friend got struck by the drunkard’s hand. Then, that drunkard fell down in the road. Fortunately, in a house nearby, a man was outside. He helped us. After the drunkard fell down, we moved towards our room and felt safe. “It was an unusual situation for me, and of course, I was nervous. I hope nothing like this happens again. But also, if college could open the previous entrance gate after 8 at night, it would be helpful for everyone who lives nearby, and we shouldn’t have to worry about the security of the students.” my friend believes. We were lucky that nothing bad happened that day. But it is not sure that the same situations can’t repeat in the future. The main problem for us is due to the location of entrance gate and the opening of a Liquor store in that road, which is our only way to the college. So, we (students and normal people), the DWIT administration and the neighbor should be aware of this fact, otherwise this might bring an unfortunate accident in near future.