Mineshi Mishra, a 20-year-old undergraduate student from Banaras Hindu University who was among the students lathicharged by the police on the night of September 22, said that the university students are not appalled at the Vice-Chancellor's “misogynist” statements as they have got used to them.
She alleged that when the molestation victim went to complain to the university authorities at 6.30 p.m. she was told that “if she is roaming around the campus after dark, this is bound to happen”.
Pointing to bruises on her arm, allegedly inflicted during the lathi charge, Ms. Mishra said that the protest on campus was an outburst of girl students whose demands for safety had gone unheard for several months.
Protest in Capital
Several students and alumni from BHU, social organisations and activists held a protest at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday demanding the resignation of the V-C, Girish Chandra Tripathi. Talking about the incident that the BHU administration was now trying to pass off as “politically motivated” and caused by “outsiders”, Ms. Mishra said: “We had been protesting against the incidents of sexual harassment and violence in the university. After almost two days of sitting on dharna , we were promised that the V-C would come and meet us, but instead we were greeted with simultaneous lathi charge at different places on campus,” says Ms. Mishra. She added that many of here friends were unable to join the dharna at Jantar Mantar as they were injured badly and were still receiving medical treatment.
Positive side
“When the lathi charge happened, everything was blurry and for a while we were scared. But now when I think about it, I see a positive side as the matter has become a concern of every student, and every university in the nation,” said Ms. Mishra.
Asked if she feared going back to the university, she said she would continue to fight for students’ rights and demand gender sensitisation classes for all staff, including the warden, and resignation of the V-C.
The students of BHU will visit different campuses in Delhi seeking student’ solidarity for their movement.
