Written by Oindrila Mukherjee
Student Council secretary Vani Sood’s open letter to all the stakeholders of Panjab University reads, “It is shameful that a message is being sent out to the world that girls of this university are not capable of taking care of themselves.”
Sood wrote this letter ahead of her 10-day plan to launch Pinjra Tod, a nationwide women’s collective movement to make hostel accommodation rules less regressive for women, on the campus on April 2. Her appeal: “Come, walk with me. Pinjra todte hain (Let’s break the cage).” She will go from hostel to hostel, 11 in total, to collect residents’ opinions and feedback on hostel rules, curfew timings for women and sexual harassment of women on the campus. Sood will then take this feedback and march to the vice chancellor’s office on April 12 to submit a memorandum of demands. One of the demands will also include the student council’s representation on the Panjab University Committee Against Sexual Harassment (PUCASH). In the light of mulitple sexual harassment complaints against an orthodontics professor, Sood wants the students to be more aware of their rights on the campus.
Claiming that 60 per cent of the student population of the varsity was women, Sood said, “There’s no student representation at all in PUCASH. We want this so that the panel meets regularly to discuss issues faced by woman students. I also want a transgender student to be part of it.”
Sood further stated that the students did not know where to go if they faced such problems on the campus that further propagated the ‘Chalta Hai’ attitude. “I have received so many complaints of stalking and eve-teasing outside the lane on which the women’s hostels are located.”
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tudent council secretary and her team will take the open letter and feedback form that has around six questions based on problems with the current system and whether students wanted them changed. According to rules, the girls cannot go out of the hostel after 9 pm. If they are already out, then they have to return before 10 pm to avoid paying fine. Six entries are allowed between 10 pm and 10.30 pm, following which the girls have to pay a fine of Rs 200. The fine after 10.30 pm is Rs 250.
“Most of us finish classes by 5 pm. After that we have only four hours for other activities. I raised the issue of curfew timings and restrictions at women’s hostels even in the beginning of my term. But the authorities said the students wanted these rules,” she said.
Sood maintained that the campaign was based on the fact that women can keep themselves safe and take decisions on their own. “The authorities say they cannot provide security to girls after 9 pm. Then, they should also mention this on the university brochure. It’s not right to lock up girls. They should increase and improve security,” she asserted.
Originally, Pinjra Tod dates back to 2015 when Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi issued a notice stating that woman students could no longer request for permission to stay out beyond 8 pm. A Jamia student then wrote an open letter to the V-C, saying not only was the revision of the rule restrictive, but the pre-existing rules also called for permission from parents or the local guardian to authorise a night out to women.
Calling this a violation of women’s right to freedom, groups of woman students in Delhi signed a petition to start a discussion on several issues faced by women in hostels. Since then, the movement has seen active participation from students across the country, using Pinjra Tod identity to raise several issues and patriarchal policies women faced on the campus.
On March 19, Jamia Millia Islamia was forced to give in to students’ demands and extend its curfew from 8 pm to 10.30 pm a week after a woman student was not allowed to receive the food she had ordered after the 8 pm curfew.
With a little over a month left for the PUCSC’s term to end, Sood hopes to make a lasting impact on the PU authorities. “We are not against the authorities, just against the system that forces women to stay in such conditions. Personally, I will be visiting hostels and also talk to the wardens about other issues at these hostels. I want to do something productive before my term ends and this is a way that I can change the patriarchal attitude of the authorities towards woman students,” she said.
News Source (Indian Express)