Students Injured As Police Lathicharge During Late Night Clashes At Banaras Hindu University // BHU Students Petition to Prime Minister

By Dilip -
NB: The demands of the students are genuine and need to be attended to, not merely in BHU but in all campuses. But all the authorities are concerned about is their 'image' and that of the Prime Minister. Not only have protesting students been beaten up and injured, the authorities have now dubbed the protest the work of 'anti-national forces'. We should not be surprised - this is the stock response of the RSS/BJP to any criticism whatsoever. Whoever doesn't sing the praises of the Sangh Parivar and its government is anti-national. What is alarming is the extent to which university authorities, who are supposed to be autonomous and in charge of higher education, are rapidly transforming themselves into hatchet-men and censors for the ruling party. There have been repeated instances of this censorship - the last being a ban on a discussion of the Indian Constitution in Allahabad University. Meanwhile the atmosphere is full of intimidation and threat caused by the assassination of critics; hooliganism and pressures on the independence of the media. Indians who value democracy need to resist this disguised Emergency. We will have only ourselves to blame if we allow this government to deprive us of our rights and freedoms. DS

 Seamus Heaney’s Advice to the Young. BY MARIA POPOVA: “you’ve got to tell the world how to treat you... if the world tells you how you are going to be treated, you are in trouble” James Baldwin
Videos: Scenes of police action against women student protesters at BHU show who was violent

VARANASI:  Just hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi left Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi following his two-day visit, clashes erupted at Banaras Hindu University (BHU) around 11 last night between the police and a group of protesting students who tried to enter the Vice Chancellor's residence. The police claim that the students threw stones at them and they had to lathicharge to contain violence on the campus. About six to seven students got injured in the incident.

The students claim that the police lathicharged without provocation and didn't even spare women students. They also alleged that the cops entered a girls' hostel. At least three motorcycles were set on fire in the violence allegedly by some of the protesters. The main gate of the university has been cleared of protesting students. The situation is under control, and officials say Dussehra holidays, which are about to begin, could diffuse tension.

While reacting to violence against protesting students, former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav tweeted, "Lathicharge on BHU students is condemnable. The government must find solutions through talks and not force. There should be action against those involved." Students have been protesting against the university administration's alleged inaction and victim shaming after a first-year woman student reported an incident of molestation on Thursday.

The woman alleged that three bike-borne men harassed her inside the campus when she returned to her hostel on Thursday evening. The men abused her and fled when she resisted their attempts, she said. She alleged that security guards, who were right there, did nothing to stop them and her hostel warden, instead of taking up the issue with the administration, asked her why was she returning late to the hostel. The warden's response angered the students who sat on 'dharna' at the main gate later that evening. One of the students reportedly got her head tonsured.
"She is in trauma and such an incident can happen to anyone. This campus is not safe at all," said Ankita Singh, a protesting student. The students say they just want to meet the Vice Chancellor to urge him to ensure safety on the campus. "If you go inside the campus in the evening, you will realise that harassment is a common problem here," said Shweta Mishra, a student. The protesting students had hoped that PM Modi would meet them. However, on Thursday, when the Prime Minister and his entourage were supposed to pass by the main gate of the university, their route was reportedly changed by his security officers.

Sources in the university administration say the BHU campus is huge and open to public and policing every area is not possible. Nonetheless, security inside the campus would be reviewed, they promised. Rajesh Kumar Singh, the public relations officer of BHU, however, said, "80 per cent of the protesters are outsiders. This is a politically-motivated protest."
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/students-injured-as-police-lathicharge-during-late-night-clashes-on-bhu-campus-1754375

BHU Students Petition to Prime Minister
Support for Girls Protest at Banaras Hindu University

Shri. Narendra Modi
Hon’ble Prime Minister
Government of India
23 September, 2017

Dear Sir,
 This is an urgent appeal to you to look into a matter of grave concern. Students of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) have been sitting on a protest, since 6 am in the morning of 22 September, to register their complaint against ongoing incidents of sexual harassment in the campus area. This protest was spurred off by a recent incident that happened in evening of 21st when a student was on her way back to the hostel from the department.

She was stopped and harassed by some unidentified individuals inside the campus. When this incident happened, the girl immediately reached out to the security personnel posted nearby the spot. They refused to help and instead told her that it was her fault as she was roaming around on the road after dark. The incident happened around 6 pm in the evening. She went back to her hostel and shared her plight with her fellow students. The students decided to complain to the Dean of Student, but there also the girls were turned away saying that it was their problem and they need to be careful and not be outdoors after dark.

This is however, not an isolated incident, as students of BHU have been constantly raising issues of gender-based discrimination in the hostels since the last one year. They have been complaining of curfew timings in hostels, discriminatory food options in the hostel, where girls are only offered vegetarian food whereas boys hostels are constantly serving non-vegetarian food. Girls are also subjected to discriminatory polices, such as forcing them to sign affidavits that restricts them to participate in any agitation or protest, whereas boys are made to do no such thing.

Since the morning of 22 September, more than 1000 girls have gathered in front of the main gate of BHU and protesting against the insensitive attitude of the administration, especially the Vice Chancellor of the University. The student who was subjected to the harassment, shaved her head at the protest venue and joined the agitation. They are demanding for equal space and opportunity and not be treated as second class citizens in their own country, where their security and safety is not the responsibility of the state but theirs to bother. They feel unsafe and violated in a space that systematically blames and hold them responsible for every act of violence that they are subjected to.

We urge you to please recognize that there is need to take responsibility of the safety and security of girls by making them feel safe and free in homes and public spaces, rather than pushing them behind locked doors and under layers of cloth. Incidents of sexual harassment and abuse is not only a law and order issue but is a social problem. We therefore, need to take steps of sensitizing the university campus, teachers, security personnel’s, teachers, staff for their need to respond to women with dignity and equality.

Please find below the demands of the students:

1. Ensure strict legal action against those responsible for the harassment faced by the student concerned
2. Make provisions of lighting up all the dark zones and spots of the University campus
3. Continuous patrolling of security guards
4. Gender sensitization of administrative staff and teaching faculty
5. Provision for hostels for girls
6. Abolition of curfew timings in girls hostels
7. Formation of Gender Sensitization and Sexual Harassment Committee
8. Recruitment of women security personnel
9. Inclusion of female functionaries in Proctorial board
10. Equality in food offered in hostels of boys and girls
11. Installation of CCTV cameras in prominent spots  
  
As the Prime Minister of this country, we earnestly hope that you will please act to stop this discrimination and take immediate action by directing the university to take action on the culprits and fulfill the demands of the students.

 Thanks




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