Varanasi/Lucknow
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday ordered a probe into violence at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) where a number of students, including girls and media persons, were injured in lathi charge by the police.
Orders have been given to close down BHU till October 2, and all the students have been asked to vacate their rooms by Sunday evening. The students were protesting against increased incidents of eve teasing. On Saturday night, the irate students took to streets, later pelting stones and set many vehicles on fire.
Later, the police resorted to lathicharge in which several girl students and media persons were injured. The BHU administration issued a statement on Sunday saying that protest of the students was “politically motivated” to malign the image of the university. The university also said that security guards were regularly patrolling the campus and assistance from the police was sought from time-to-time to maintain peace in the campus. “Majority of the people who were involved in violence were outsiders and not the bonafide students of the university,” BHU spokemsman said in his statement.
Delhi students in support of friends in BHU
“These were the anti-national elements who were out to malign BHU’s image,” it said. The tremors of the university were felt in state capital where a section of journalists staged protest outside CM’s residence demanding action against DM and SSP for ordering lathicharge in which a few mediapersons were injured. The protests in BHU started about four days ago in protest against an incident of eve teasing. What triggered the violence was an incident in which a woman student of Arts faculty was alleged harassed by three men on a motorcycle inside the campus while she was returning to her hostel. Reports say three men abused her and fled when she resisted their attempts.
The woman alleged that security guards, about 100 metres from where the incident happened, did nothing to stop the men. She said in he complaint that her warden, instead of taking up the issue with her superiors, asked her why was she was returning late to the hostel. The warden’s response angered the student’s colleagues, who sat on a ‘dharna’ at the main gate midnight Thursday. One of the students even got her head tonsured. Police and BHU professors tried to pacify the students but they refused to end their protest and sought assurance from Banaras Hindu University Vice-Chancellor Girish Chandra Tripathi.
In view of the tense situation, District Magistrate Yogeshwar Ram Mishra and SSP RK Bhardwaj held a meeting with university officers to evaluate the situation. The DM has ordered for closing of all the universities, including the higher educational institutions, in the city on Monday. In the BHU, the students took out a silent march demanding action against the guilty district and university officers. They got support from senior professors and doctors who also took out a march from Malviya Bhawan to the statue of Malviyaji appealing to all to maintain peace on the campus. -agencies-
Rahul Gandhi takes dig at BJP’s Beti Bachao Beti Padhao drive
New Delhi: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi today slammed the BJP for the lathi charge by police on girl students of the BHU, saying it was the saffron party’s version of “Beti Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao”.
The university campus last night witnessed violence by students who were lathicharged by the police, in an ugly turn of a protest against an alleged eve-teasing incident.
“BJP version of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao in BHU,” Gandhi tweeted, attaching a video link of the students who alleged that they were beaten up by male policemen at the campus.
AIDWA CONDEMNS POLICE ACTION ON BHU STUDENTS
The All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) condemns the brutal police violence perpetrated on all students, majority of which are girls, by the authorities of the Banares Hindu University (BHU). The students were protesting the molestation of a girl student from the department of fine arts by three men on a motorcycle just outside the university campus day before yesterday. In response to the complaint of the student, the university authorities displayed their utter insensitivity by blaming the girl for not keeping to hostel timings.
It is the duty of the University to provide security to the students from goons and it cannot shirk away from this responsibility. This typically retrograde and patriarchal attitude of the University authorities shows emboldening of conservative forces which are getting direct support from BJP-led Uttar Pradesh Government. In fact, far from taking cognizance of the demands of the protesting students, in a typical fashion the university authorities have blamed the agitation on ‘anti-national’ and ‘extraneous elements’. This type casting is a logical outcome of the penetration of Hindutva supporters in institutions of higher education. It is highly objectionable that the Vice Chancellor has not met the students in spite of repeated requests by them.
The All India Democratic Women’s Association expresses its solidarity with the protesting students and demands immediate action against all those responsible for the police brutality. It supports the demands of the students that there should be an unconditional apology from the university to the victim, gender sensitisation of all faculty and office bearers, better lighting all across the campus, deployment of guards, and removal of curfew timings for women in the hostels. It calls upon all its units to mobilise support for the protesting students of BHU.