BHU turmoil: All about the latest developments at the university
Banaras Hindu University (BHU) is on the boil. A lot has happened since a girl student was molested on September 21. Now the university has appointed its first female chief proctor, Vice Chancellor GC Tripathi has given women hostelers lessons on 'modesty' and 'duty', and said he'd rather resign than go on a leave. Here's what's been happening at the varsity lately.
BHU has appointed a woman as its chief proctor for the first time in its 101-year-old history. An anatomy professor at the university, new chief proctor Royana Singh is categorical about putting no restriction on female students regarding their dress-code, or consumption of alcohol and non-vegetarian food. Singh is named after the French town Royan, where she lived for nine years in the 1980s.
"Putting a dressing restriction on girls would be like imposing it on myself. If you can't wear what you feel comfortable in, then it is a shame in this era," said BHU's newly-appointed chief proctor Royana Singh.
Amid growing speculation that the HRD Ministry wants BHU V-C Tripathi to go on leave considering the unrest on campus, Tripathi has said that he'd rather resign. "I would prefer to send my resignation instead of going on a leave," he has reportedly said. However, the Ministry has denied any such possibility. Notably, Tripathi is due to demit office in the next two months.
Meanwhile, V-C Tripathi has invited more wrath for imparting lessons on moral education to female hostelers. He reportedly met with the inmates of a girls' hostel in university's Triveni complex on Wednesday evening. Instead of addressing the issues at hand, he chided them for discussing the modesty of a girl in public, and for not informing him previously about any such incidents.
Now, another skeleton has come tumbling out of BHU's closet. Leaked letters and mails of former members of BHU administration have revealed their dissatisfaction with the lackadaisical attitude of the university's top management. An IIT professor reportedly resigned over random appointments of department heads. Another Executive Council member had expressed concern over how V-C Tripathi would call meetings on important agendas at short notice.
