The BHU campus is on boil for three days following alleged molestation of a student. The girls were lathicharged last night for demanding safety, the protesters said.
The students of Mahila Mahavidyala of the Banaras Hindu University, which is on the boil for three days, are leading "silent protest march" seeking safety of girls inside the campus.
The protesting girls have very simple demands which are considered as basic safety requirements of the campuses across the universities. "Our demands are simple. We want to feel safe on the campus. University authorities should ensure this," said Akansha Sahay, a BHU student.
"Lighting is not proper. There are no CCTV cameras, not even in the college. You can come and check," Akansha said, adding, "We want proper lighting inside the BHU campus, installation of CCTV cameras, gender sensitisation of male students and staff and officials working on the campus. That's it. We are not demanding anything more."
LATHICHARGE ON CAMPUS
The girls on the campus were angry following use of force by police against the protesters injuring many. Some of the girls received serious injuries. "Our protest was peaceful. We did not use violence and police started beating up girls. Male police personnel lathicharged the students of Mahila Mahavidyala. Girls were beaten up," Akansha Singh, another BHU student said.
Akansha Singh rejected police's version that the protesting students clashed with them. She told India Today that "those who created troubles, resorted to violence were outsiders. They were not even the students of the BHU."
"Yet police beat up girls of Mahila Mahavidyala at 1 am," Akansha Singh said.
NO MEETING WITH V-C
Protesting for past three days, the girls have refused to meet the V-C Girish Chandra Tripathi in his chamber. They demand that he should come out and meet us in the open.
"What happens is that the V-C calls around 10 students and warns them against raising their demands. The students are suspended without being given a chance to present their case. The matter ends there. We don't want to follow the same old line. We are concerned about our safety," Singh said.
The students also questioned the response of the BHU administration to the incident of molestation of a girl on Thursday. When the girl complained about molestation, the authorities asked her "what were you doing outside after 6 pm?"
HOW IT ALL BEGAN?
A student of the Bachelor of Fine Arts complained on Thursday that she was molested by three men who came on bike as she was returning to her Kundan Devi hostel in BHU campus. The alleged molesters used abusive language for her, touched her inappropriately and passed lewd comments. They fled after her strong resistance.
Though, the complainant and the protesting girls have maintained that she was molested, the officials have referred to the incident as eve-teasing. The victim complained that a security guard was present a few metres away but he did not do anything to nab the alleged molesters.
The students of Mahila Mahavidyala took the matter to the warden of the hostel. But, instead of taking up the safety of girls seriously, they alleged, the warden blamed the girl for the incident. The warden allegedly asked the girl why she returned so late in the evening.
The warden's response led to a sit-in protest by the girls. They staged a dharna at warden's office around midnight on Thursday. On Friday, when Prime Minister 
Narendra Modi was in Varanasi, the girls took out marches and held protest at the Lanka Gate of the BHU campus.
The protests continued till Saturday night when police used force injuring several students including girls. Interestingly, the BHU issued a statement calling the protest by girls politically motivated to malign the image of the university at a time when PM Modi visited the city.
