New Delhi: Days after students were lathi-charged for protesting against sexual harassment, the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the Banaras Hindu University has come out with a list of demands, including suspension of the vice chancellor GC Tripathi. The demands also include “suspension of District Magistrate, SSP of Varanasi and strict legal action against the culprits.”
“Police were literally throwing the girls out. This is a complete failure of the Vice Chancellor of the University to protect students and their rights to free speech. The administration has miserably failed to respond institutionally to an incident as grave as sexual harassment. Instead, it has responded by unleashing violence on peaceful and non-violent protesters and choosing to crush the constitutional rights of students of free speech and expression,” the JAC statement reads.
The committee has demanded “equality on campus with regards to food being offered, removal of curfew hours, provisions of lighting up all the dark zones and spots of the University campus, continuous patrolling by security guards, gender sensitization of administrative staff and teaching faculty, provision for hostels for girls, formation of Gender Sensitization and Sexual Harassment Committee, recruitment of women security personnel, inclusion of female functionaries in Proctorial board, installation of CCTV cameras at prominent spots.”
The girl students of Banaras Hindu University have been protesting against the alleged sexual harassment on campus since September 22.
Their peaceful protests were met with lathi charge, which Tripathi denied in media. The girls complained that the police entered the girls’ hostel inside the campus and reportedly dragged girls out and assaulted them. The police are said to have used tear gas and rubber bullets against the unarmed students and also against those who were on hunger strike.
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