Hundreds of students at the SRM Institute of Science and Technology (SRMIST) at Kattankulathur near here protested on Thursday night after the college hostel warden blamed a student's inappropriate dressing for sexual harassment by a male worker in the hostel lift.

The student alleged that a man who works on the campus indulged in sexually inappropriate behaviour in front of her in the hostel lift.

Police arrested S Arjuna, 28, who works in the college mess on Friday based on the complaint. After the protest snowballed into a major controversy, the institute expressed regret over the incident and placed a hostel warden who blamed the woman student's dressing for harassment under suspension.

A statement from Sethuraman, Registrar, SRMIST said the accused was arrested following a complaint lodged by it with the police. He said the "culprit in question" was an "outsourced contractual employee who collects food waste from the mess."

A second-year undergraduate student of the institute was sharing the lift with the worker on Thursday afternoon when the alleged incident took place.

When the female student went to complain about the harassment, the hostel warden brushed her concern aside and instead indulged in victim-shaming.