Shutting down the university by prolonging Dussehra holidays might offer some immediate respite to the powers that be at Banaras Hindu University (BHU), in the immediate aftermath of the student unrest, angry protests, and violence that broke out on campus after a brazen incident of sexual harassment came to light on Thursday, 21 September. The holidays are highly unlikely to tone down the matter. The complaint filed by the molestation victim has also made some shocking revelations.
According to the FIR, the incident had taken place at 6.20 pm on September 21, on the eve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s arrival in his Lok Sabha constituency for a two-day tour. The FIR was lodged on September 22. TOI has accessed the detailed complaint by the second year student whose molestation has triggered widespread protests, leading to arson and clashes between police and students. The 21-year-old girl had come to BHU from the national capital. “I was passing by Bharat Kala Bhawan at 6.20 pm. I was wearing salwar suit. Suddenly, two motorcycle-borne youth came and inserted their hands inside my suit. They then sped away. Due to fading light, I could not recognise the registration numbers,” the complaint reads. She reveals how desperate pleas by her and her friends before the BHU guards to recognize the men despite sharing their description invoked scornful remarks. “While I was almost unconscious and weeping, my friends, approached guards but their reaction was strange. They made sarcastic remarks on why we move outside after 6 pm. (TOI)
The girls told that one of their male friend who was present near them at that time, tried to describe those men to the guards but the guards obviously did nothing.
The parents of the victim have taken her back home but she still wants those molesters to get the toughest punishment so that this doesn’t happen to any other girl.
Her friends describe her as a brave girl who often encouraged them to take solo trips and be independent and brave.
In one of her recent Twitter posts, she shared a photograph with the caption “See my dress as Muslim, my forehead as Hindu, my chest as Christian, but I am human.”
This is not a new thing happening in BHU, in past year, there have been many such cases:
In January 2016, a research scholar was raped by a senior.
In April, there were clashes between science and art students resulting in bullies and bullet fires.
In August 2016, a 19-year-old male student was allegedly gang-raped by five men in a moving car with the university logo.
Not even teachers are left alone, they often complain of being eve-teased and harassed while on campus.
If you dig deeper, you will find a lot of stuff going on there that is nothing but dirty!