Ambedkar Ganguly Students House for Women, Delhi University (DU) residents broke open the lock of their hostel gate late on Sunday night and protested against the alleged remarks by the hostel warden and also against the “arbitrary” rules and regulations.
Solidarity was shown by the various other Girls Hostel Complex such as Ambedkar Ganguly Students House for Women, North Eastern Students House for Women, Rajeev Gandhi Hostel for Girls, University Hostel for Women, and Undergraduate Hostel for Girls (UGHG) against the hostel curfew timings and problems faced by girls in DU Hostels.
The residents protested demanding resignation and a written apology from the warden.
During the rehearsals for the Hostel Night of Ambedkar Ganguly hostel for women, hostel warden allegedly passed comments on a dance performance as “disrespectful” and objected to the clothes for being ‘ revealing’.
She asked the girls to avoid some of the parts of the dance performance which were ‘disrespectful’ according to her.
Aftermath when warden was asked for an explanation of the same, an altercation took place between the residents and warden and the hostel gates were locked.
Various other hostels showed solidarity and there was heavy police deployed the whole night.
A resident of UGHG, on conditions of anonymity, commented, “ Though due process has been followed by all the hostels, by writing applications and by complaining to the authorities they seem disinterested and not considerate”.
Now, the student body is planning to protest from February 27 against the hostel norms and criteria.
Their statement said, “Even the men on campus will see their female counterparts as lesser beings if women do not have the same rights as they do. By restricting women in the public sphere, is it how the institutions are preparing us or the ‘next generation leaders for the real world” ?
The student collective under the name of Women for Equality comprising of residents from various hostels of the Girls hostel complex have demanded the authority to immediately follow the University Grants Commission (UGC) Guidelines and the Saksham Committee Report, and “remove patriarchal and unconstitutional curfew from all women’s hostels”.
