Overnight protests rocked the campus of Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law (RGNUL) in Punjab’s Patiala after female students alleged that the Vice-Chancellor (VC) often passes sexist, inappropriate, and insensitive remarks on their dressing and personal activities and accused him of infringing their privacy during an inspection of girls hostel on Sep 22 evening without any prior notice and female staff initially.
The protest continued overnight outside the VC’s residence on campus with students demanding his immediate resignation.
Prof (Dr) Jai Shankar Singh Singh has denied the allegations, and said he went to the girls’ hostel to “identify students, who smoke and drink alcohol after midnight because of several complaints.”
The protestors said the latest incident was not a one-off thing and the protest was a result of the “culmination of several such incidents happening for past months.” They maintained that the VC “crossed the boundary” by entering the girls’ hostel, where even their parents are not allowed to enter without permission.
“He often passes remarks on female students and even the faculty members. At a point in time, he even suggested that female students should be taught cooking, etc. to prepare for married life ahead,” a protestor was quoted as saying.
Citing an instance of VC’s alleged inappropriate behavior with female students, the protestors in their written representation to the Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, who is the ex-officio chancellor of the university said the VC questioned a student immediately after she returned from a shower, not giving her sufficient time to even dress appropriately.
Citing another example of an inappropriate remark, the girls alleged the VC told the students in the recent past, “Tumhare maa baap tumhe paise dete hai aise kapde phenne ke liye (Do your parents provide you with the money to wear such clothes)?”.
They said when a student asked VC about the reason for his visit without a prior notice, he replied that the girls were like his daughters, and that he was not misbehaving with them.
In his response to the allegations, the VC was quoted as saying, “Girls who do not drink and smoke were constantly complaining that a handful of others bring such things inside the hostel after midnight. They get such things from outside on the pretext of ordering food. Many new students complained to us."
"Only a handful of students in every batch are creating an issue. Only they had issues with inspection while others were sitting in their classrooms today," Singh said, adding, “I did not make a single remark on any student’s clothes. It is a completely false allegation just by a handful of students.,”
“Due to the increasingly frequent and outrageous actions of the Hon’ble VC since his appointment, causing distress to and encroaching upon the dignity and privacy of the students, the RGNUL student community finds it imperative to demand the resignation of the Hon’ble VC,” reads the representation of students to Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court.
“His actions have not only harmed the morale of students but also the reputation of the University,” it added. The protesting students said among the “insensitive and rude remarks” allegedly made by VC were questions about the choice of their courses at the university.
The students also alleged in their representation that the VC was not accompanied by any female faculty or guards, until at a later stage when they were informed.
“The inspection could have been conducted by a female staff of the University, avoiding the entry of a male member into the girls’ hostel premises… Notably, according to University Guidelines, the premises of the girls’ hostel are limited to female members of the RGNUL community. Even parents of students are denied entry.”
