No security at IISc despite past incidents

No security at IISc despite past incidents
The Times of India

Bangalore: Neither the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) nor the city police seem to have learnt a lesson from the past.
On April 10, 2005, when Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited the IISc campus, a Tibetan protester, Tenzing Tsundue, broke the security cordon, scaled a tower clock located inside and unfurled the Tibetian flag in full public glare of the international media. The police watched helplessly from below.

The state government ordered an enquiry by CoD DGP K.R. Sreenivasan. He recommended mild action against the police officials responsible for the security breach. The Sadashivanagar police inspector was suspended, but reinstated at the same station a few days later. Senior officers were allowed to go scot free with minor punishments in the form of a showcause notice.

Later, the state government recommended a probe by Lok Ayukta Justice N Venkatachala. This probe was stonewalled by some senior officers, who sensed severe action from the nononsense Venkatachala. They obtained a court stay against the Lok Ayukta enquiry.

Meanwhile, IISc too seems to have failed to pay enough attention to security despite being a premier science institution under the terror scanner. IISc has several entrances and exits, and its walls are scalable.
For a sprawling 443-acre premises, the IISc with six gates including the three gates on J N Tata auditorium side has only one security guard manning each gate round the clock on a 8-hour shift basis.

IISc sources said: “Usually, we don’t check every person who comes to the JN Tata auditorium for functions. Events happen almost regularly at these auditorium and 500-600 people attend each of these seminars and conferences. It is impossible to check each of them.’’

On Wednesday, three guards were manning the gates near the auditorium and two guards were posted near the parking lot to facilitate easy parking. The other gates were also manned.

“Anybody can walk inside and come out. It is high time the security at IISc and other vital installations are handed over to CRPF or CISF,’’ a senior police officer said. “We have asked them on several occasions to beef up internal security,’’ he added.

“We are going to review the security of all vital installations located in the city now,’’ the officer said.