All India Students Association (AISA) has strongly condemned the recent order by Yogi Adityanath government of Uttar Pradesh banning coaching institutes from conducting late evening classes for girl students. This anti-women and gender discriminatory decree has been brought through the new guidelines of 'Safe City Project' issued by the UP government.
'Safe City Project' is an initiative taken by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India under the Nirbhaya Fund Scheme in which it claims to make cities safe for women in collaboration with state governments. In the Nirbhaya movement, women across the country raised slogans like 'Freedom without Fear,' and 'Change your thinking, not women's clothes'. Such a nationwide mass movement arose that the Parliament had to enact a law against sexual harassment and the Nirbhaya Fund was created to ensure women's safety in public places. It is sad and outrageous that efforts are being made to imprison women again by misusing the same Nirbhaya fund.
The BJP government is making tall claims of building smart cities and 24×7 cities, proper law and order and women's safety, while on the other hand, it is depriving women of the right to equal opportunities by imprisoning them in the name of security. If we are talking about opening shopping complexes, public places and other urban facilities 24 hours, then for whom will they be and where are women in this? This is a big question.
Be it the Modi government at the Centre or the Yogi government in UP, all-round attacks on civil rights are going on. We have recently seen in BHU campus, how the Yogi’s UP police assaulting women protesting against sexual violence incident instead of taking action and ensuring justice. Imprisoning only women in the name of crime prevention shows that the government has completely failed to take any action against criminals. AISA opposes any order, policy or law that violates women's rights.
