NCW blames V-C for campus violence
VARANASI: The National Commission for Women (NCW) has blamed the vice-chancellor of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) for violence on campus last month that left women students injured during a protest against sexual harassment.
A three-member committee said the university administration didn’t take the harassment complaint seriously and accused V-C Girish Chandra Tripathi of ignoring the protesters, who were caned on September 23.
“Lack of dialogue on part of BHU vice-chancellor (with the girls) is responsible for the violence. Girls were staging a protest near BHU gate. They demanded V-C visit the spot and hear them. If the V-C had done that, the situation would have diffused,” said NCW member Rekha Sharma.
Sharma claimed she called up the vice-chancellor but he didn’t respond to her calls or messages. “The V-C will be summoned for interrogation,” she added.
A woman student at the Banaras Hindu University was allegedly sexually harassed on her way to the hostel on September 21, triggering waves of fury in the campus. The university was swamped with massive protests on September 23 before police caned women to disperse them, prompting widespread condemnation and a judicial probe.
Tripathi is on leave and the registrar of the university is the acting vice-chancellor.
The police registered a case against 1,000 unidentified students before handing over the probe to the crime branch which served notice to 13 students and seven members of the proctorial board.
A two-member Uttar Pradesh government panel had also blamed the BHU administration.
The NCW commission will submit its report in a week.