A preliminary investigation has been opened against X for rape and sexual assault following an internal study by the Ecole polytechnique according to which one in four students has been the victim of sexual assault since the start of her schooling, the prosecution said. d’Evry to Agence France-Presse (AFP), Thursday, April 14, confirming information from France Inter.
While eleven students say they have been victims of rape or attempted rape, the opening of this investigation comes seven months after that relating to CentraleSupélec, where an internal study had also reported a hundred acts of sexual harassment, sexual assault or rape during the academic year.
23% of students say they have been sexually assaulted during their schooling
In both cases, the management of the establishments had sent a report to the Evry public prosecutor’s office, these schools being located on the Saclay plateau (Essonne). According to the prosecution, the Polytechnique report was received at the end of March and led to the opening of this investigation on Wednesday, entrusted to the research brigade of the Palaiseau gendarmerie.
At Polytechnique, the questionnaire, conducted from January 19 to February 6 in consultation with students, was completed by around 2,100 young people out of the 3,300 who joined the school between 2018 and 2021, “i.e. more than 60% of responses, a very high turnout”estimated Tuesday, with AFP, the director general of the prestigious school of engineers, François Bouchet. “We suspected that there would be cases of sexist and sexual violence that would come up, harassment, exhibitionism, unwanted contact, because we also have a listening unit which had been seized of certain cases”he pointed out.
According to the survey, 23% of students (mostly women) say they have been sexually assaulted during their schooling: we rubbed against them, we touched their breasts, their buttocks, we kissed them against their will.