Last year the whole country stood by the BHU women students who were protesting the Administration’s apathy towards sexual harassment, and its imposition of discriminatory and misogynist rules on women students and residents of women’s hostels. BHU students, men and women both, have protested peacefully on many occasions, demanding 24/7 library facilities for all students and equality and safety for women students. Under pressure, the then BHU VC was sent on long leave and the first woman Chief Proctor in BHU’s history was appointed.
This year, BHU has debarred 56 students from the University: this means that after getting their degrees, they will not be able to get admission in the University for any degree in the future. It also means that these students cannot attend classes or avail of the hostel facility. The BHU Administration, still dominated by the RSS and its patriarchal, authoritarian and anti-education mindset, is penalising students for protesting sexual harassment! So much for the PM’s Beti Bachao Beti Padhao slogan: the reality is that if the ‘Beti’ struggles for her rights, she will be prevented from availing ‘Padhai’ (education)!
Ms Royana Singh, the Chief Proctor of BHU, has defended this move claiming that the 56 students are habitual ‘troublemakers.’ Earlier she had filed FIRs on protesting students and told media channels that last year’s protest against sexual harassment was ‘sponsored’ by outsiders who distributed ‘pizzas and soft drinks’! The police cleared the students named in the FIR of all charges – but Ms Royana Singh constituted a committee of which she herself was a part, found the students guilty and recommended debarment!
AIPWA condemns the move to punish students protesting on any issue, especially on sexual harassment. In our experience, campuses and institutions where freedom of expression and protest are muzzled and punished foster a climate which promotes sexual harassment. By punishing students for raising their voices against sexual harassment, the BHU Administration is warning students to remain silent on sexual harassment.
In the ideology of the Sangh Parivar to which the University Administration officials, as well as the PM and UP CM belong, women must not demand equality and freedom and must obey the laws of the Manusmriti. This is why students who inspired the whole country with their protest are now being punished. AIPWA stands by the BHU students and demand that all punishments be withdrawn, and the right to freedom of expression and protest be respected and nurtured in BHU.
