September has been a month of protests and student movements in Banaras Hindu University. Just like the events of September 23 last year, September 23, 2018, was also a vivid spectator to the same. A group of girls who were remembering their year of struggle was attacked and beaten by members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

But first, let’s look back at the chronology of events leading up to this.

In September 2017, a mass movement emerged after a girl was molested in the university campus. The administration paid no heed to her complaint, after which the anger of the students poured onto the streets in the form of a peaceful protest. In a mass movement, female students demanded gender-equal hostel rules, and better security and safety. In response, they faced insensitive comments from BHU vice-chancellor GC Tripathi. The protesting students were brutally lathi-charged on the night of September 23, 2017, to crush the protest. Following this, the central government faced immense backlash and was forced to send the BHU VC on leave.

On September 23, 2018, female students decided to remember this day as a mark of protest in the history of BHU. They decided to hold a street play, a poem recitation and an open mic programme. ABVP members tried to disrupt the nukkad natak (street play) in Vishwanath Temple. Then at the open mic event at MMV Gate, the ABVP members chanted sexist and derogatory slogans and manhandled students participating in the programme. Girls present allege that slogans such as “ladkiyon ka ek hi moto, khao, peeyo sath mei loto (Girls have a single moto, eat drink and roam)” were raised by the ABVP. ABVP members of the university at the event also said they would “eliminate” girls demanding azaadi, calling them “anti-national” and “JNU type”, while vowing to not allow BHU to become another JNU.

At midnight on September 23, a first information report was lodged by protesting female students against 10 ABVP members under Sections 147, 354, 323, 504 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code for assaulting the modesty of girls, spreading violence and interrupting the programme.

When Newslaundry spoke to the Chief Proctor Royna Singh about what happened, she said, “If the students had taken a proper written notice for the programme, the administration would have provided them with proper security.”

Another incident occurred on September 24, where medical science and arts faculty students clashed, throwing petrol bombs. The campus erupted in violence. After the violence, six hostels were vacated and the university is now closed for the next three days.

On September 26, the ABVP lodged a counter FIR against 15 students who were supporting the female students in their protest. The FIR is lodged under Sections 153- B, 147, 323, 325, 504 and 506.

This has been a tradition in BHU—whenever the university starts developing an ideological space, violence follows, after which the space for debate and discussion shrinks. In the past, various students staging peaceful protests have been suspended for raising their voice. 

In the last two decades, BHU has seen complete ideological silence and zero student activism. The campus has been a hub for violence. The administration has tried to dilute student protests by letting a few groups indulge in violence while shielding them. The ABVP has a stronghold on the campus and doesn’t want different views to exist in the university.

The situation started changing over the last three years when groups such as the Joint Action Committee – BHU—a joint forum of different student organisations—tried to build an environment of debate, discussion and dissent. Independent female students started raising their voices over the past year, and have taken to the streets on different occasions. The ABVP witnesses this as an ideological loss in the campus as issues such as freedom, equality and gender have come to the forum of discussion.

A university should strive to be a space for discussion and debate, but when this space is explored in BHU to secure equal rights and challenge patriarchal mindsets, the administration tries to suppress it. In the case of female activists, their characters are also assassinated through online trolling.