Tollywood actress Poonam Kaur expressed her concern and solidarity with the Gudlavalleru Engineering College girl students, who have been fighting after discovering hidden cameras in the washroom of the girls’ hostel and asked them to be brave. Concluding her letter, she quoted Mahatma Gandhi’s words “Be the Change you Wanted to See”.
She exhorted them to fight the system similar to the “wrestlers protest” in which Indian wrestlers Sakshi Malik, Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phoigat fought against the sexual exploitation and intimidation allegedly by the Wrestling Federation of India president, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and its coaches.
She has expressed concerns that the purported videos recorded from the camera were being circulated among students in the boy’s hostel. Writing an open letter over the incident, the actress ‘empathised’ with the girl students who fell victim to the voyeurism. She said she felt ‘deeply pained for these girls’ and their mothers for what they must have been through.
The Telugu actress called upon the management of the Gudlavalleru Engineering College to take strict action against the perpetrators without gender bias. She said the college must set a precedent by ‘cancelling the (culprits’) degree certificates and expelling them from the education institution.’ None should be spared for the heinous act, she added.
She said that she was particularly disgusted with the fact that a girl has put many other girls at risk with this. No matter how powerful people who are supporting the culprits, she asserted that none should be spared.
“I am with many others emotionally and mentally exhausted with experiences and hearing of how “culprits are safeguarded and victims are shamed” she said and concluded saying “Teach them a lesson, I know it’s easier said than done, but I am conveying what I heartfully felt”.
Make sure that you expose individuals no matter how powerful they are and which party they belong to if strict action is not taken on them,” Poonam Kaur said in a statement shared on her X (formerly Twitter).
