SFI to organise protest against the discriminatory girls’ hostel of Hindu College, Delhi

The administration of Hindu College, Delhi University has come up with the prospectus for its Girls’ Hostel which will start functioning from the next academic year. The fee structure of the girls’ hostel will amount to nearly 1,22,500(75 to 80 thousand excluding the mess charges) which is said to be thrice of the fees in Boys Hostel amounting 47000.The rules listed in the hostel prospectus ask students to dress as per “normal norms of the society”. No visitors will be entertained in the hostel and students can expect regular checks by warden at any point of time. It also reduces the number of night outs to one. Students have gone in fire and has criticised the fee structure of the women’s hostel, saying it is sexist and exorbitant.

 Dr.Anju Srivastava, the officiating principal of Hindu College has come up with an explanation stating that “the fee has been decided keeping in mind that this is an air-conditioned, state-of-the-art hostel with great facilities”. She also defended the dos and don’ts in the hostel prospectus, saying, “Rules have to be made to bind things together. A lot of money has gone into setting up this hostel and it is going to be one-of-a-kind. The management considered it necessary to make strict rules”.

 “The restrictive timing in only girls’ hostels reflects gender bias on campus. It takes away their right to equality. Also, the regressive and ridiculous rules on dress code as per “normal norms of the society” is an attempt to take away the right of choice. There is no need for the college to interfere in what the girls should wear. It’s a matter of their personal choice. The fact that such a discriminatory and demeaning notice was passed in an institution like this, is appalling. It’s high time that the college authorities understand that times are evolving, and unless they evolve with it, there’s going to be a struggle ahead. The girls will not stay quiet forever, and neither will the boys for that matter. The highest authorities in the college cannot stay passive forever. The students are dissatisfied. This dissatisfaction will soon turn into fury. Once that happens, there will be no smokescreen to cower behind.” said Rizvan PS, secretary of SFI Unit in Hindu College.

 “The Students’ Federation of India had organised a protest demonstration before and had submitted a memorandum to the Principal on March 10th demanding the scrapping of these arbitrary norms. But still the administration is hell-bent in imposing the hefty fee. So we are going for a united protest on 25th April and calls on the student community to act against this authoritarian and discriminatory move of Hindu College Administration.” he added.

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