With the protests for equal rights getting stronger one notch at a time at Banaras Hindu University (BHU), the first woman chief proctor – Professor Royona Singh – has declared that there will be no ban on dress or alcohol for women students in the campus.
The BHU appointed its first female proctor after the former proctor ON Singh resigned, taking the moral responsibility of the recent events at the campus where policemen had charged the female students with batons when they were protesting against the molestation of a girl student.
Born in Europe, Royona explains that she was named after a French town and often used to visit Europe and Canada. This new proctor further added that it would be like putting restrictions on herself.
"Putting a dressing restriction on girls would be like imposing it on myself. You start your day at 6 am and end at 10.30 pm, and if you still can't wear what you feel comfortable in, then it is a shame in this era."
Royona Singh, an anatomy professor, said that she finds it strange when boys pass comments on girls like 'skimpily dressed' and asked why the objection to it when a girl wears an attire of their choice.
Royona clarified that the 101-year-old university had never imposed any restrictions on women and had no plans to do so in future either and added, "As far as drinking is concerned, all girls here are above 18, why should we even impose such a thought on them?" she said.
She went on to say that she had "zero tolerance" towards sexual harassment of women and that she had been away when the incident took place, according to PTI.
Interestingly, a video showing BHU's Vice-chancellor Girish Chandra Tripathi saying that the female students in campus should not speak about sexual harassment went viral today. He further asked why did they protest and "bring dishonour to the university".
The video further captured Tripathi saying, "Teachers had called you for a discussion, but you did not come. Only those should talk about duty who follow their own duty."
This was followed by another shocking statement: "Ek ladki ki izzat baazar mein leke nikle tum log. Yeh sahi hai? (You sold the modesty of a woman with your protests. Is this right?)."
