Several student groups and progressive organisations took to the streets in the Capital on Monday to protest against the lathi charge on women students at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) who were demanding better safety measures on campus.
‘Attitude needs change’
Kavita Krishnan, secretary of the All India Progressive Women's Association (AIPWA), said that “not just in BHU but across the country, vice-chancellors of universities think that in order to ensure the safety of women, they need to kill the freedom of women.”
Addressing protesters at Jantar Mantar, she called for a change in this attitude.
“The BHU administration says security and freedom can't be given together. We say security of our freedom is our constitutional right, and no government and no Vice -Chancellor has the right to take that away,” said Ms. Krishnan.
At the same event, Geeta Kumari, the president of the JNU students’ union, said that the events at BHU show that the administration of universities are not sensitive about gender issues and are hence not capable of dealing with complaints of sexual harassment.
“This shows that JNU's fight for keeping alive its Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH) is an important one as universities across the country need similar committees that can deal with complaints of sexual harassment in a proper manner,” said Ms. Kumari.
An activist from Pinjra Tod, Ritika, said: “They impose curfew timings on women, they deny non-vegetarian food in their mess, then they allow rampant humiliation and derogatory comments about women. And now, when women are demanding justice against molestation, lathi charge is being ordered. That's patriarchy presented before you.”
NSUI detained
The National Students Union of India (NSUI) took out a protest march on Monday against the HRD Ministry.
However, they were detained before they reached Shastri Bhawan as the police had barricaded the road from the NSUI office on Raisina Road to the MHRD office.
The NSUI submitted a memorandum to the Ministry asking for the resignation of the BHU V-C and an inquiry under a sitting High Court judge.
The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) also staged a protest against the lathi charge on the students by the police and demanded the constitution of a fact-finding panel.
The NSUI claimed that while they were detained even before they could reach the Ministry, the ABVP was allowed to protest outside the Ministry before being detained.
‘Two-faced’
Many left-leaning student groups accused the RSS-backed ABVP of being “two-faced”, as the BHU V-C, who was openly am RSS supporter, did not address the concerns of the students.
ABVP national media convener Saket Bahuguna said that the organisation works for the student community and not for any political party.
