BHU protests on, molestation victim meets V-C, varsity blames ‘anti-national’ forces

BHU students protest on Saturday. (Express photo Anand Singh)

A large group of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) students continued their protests against the varsity administration for “shaming” a student who was allegedly molested on campus on Thursday evening, even as the university authorities on Saturday called the protest a work of “anti-national” and “anarchic” forces that are trying to mar BHU’s image.

Protesting students said they were also demanding increase in overall security for women students on the campus.

On Saturday evening, the victim, a boarder of Triveni Hostel who was allegedly harassed by three men on a motorbike on Thursday, and a couple of other students met Vice-Chancellor G C Tripathi and gave him some demands, the university’s PRO, Rajesh Singh, said. Singh said that the victim has withdrawn from the protest following assurances from the V-C.

Singh also claimed that students from Left-aligned outfit AISA and the Samajwadi Party’s student front are the main constituents of the protest.

Circle Officer of Dhenupur, Nivesh Katiyar, under whose jurisdiction the university area falls, told The Sunday Express late Saturday evening that the protests were on, and that students were still at the main gate.

The university has blamed the students for forcing the police to change Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s route on Friday from BHU Crossing to another part of the city on the first day of Modi’s two-day visit to Varanasi, his Lok Sabha constituency.

In a media release, the BHU administration stated, “This protest was completely political in nature because it was timed with the PM’s visit, with the intention of soiling the image of the university.”

Dismissing Friday’s reports that a woman student had tonsured her head in protest, the BHU Information Centre on Saturday released on its Facebook page screenshots of a student with her head shaved. The post mentioned her name and details and claimed she had tonsured her head last year. Stating that she was being “exploited” by “anti-national” forces, the university called the protests the “work of propagandists”.

As the protests went on, Vice-Chancellor Tripathi sent a message through police officers to send in a group of students to discuss the issue, after which two or three students are reported to have gone and met him.

Sneha Tiwari, police circle officer of Dasashwamedha Ghat area, said, “We are acting as a bridge between the students and the V-C. He has agreed to come to a suitable area, such as the Mahila University conference, to talk to a group of students. But students want him to come to the gates, which is not safe and suitable for discussion.”

Stating that there are presence of “outsiders and mischief-makers”, she asked, “How can we guarantee the V-C’s safety among so many people on a busy road?”

Among their demands, the students are seeking an unconditional apology from the university to the victim, gender sensitisation of all professors and office-bearers, installation of lights in dark patches on the campus, deployment of guards at regular intervals, and removal curfew timings for women hostellers.