BHU proctor quits over violence

Lucknow: Another midnight drama unfolded on the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) campus on Tuesday night when the chief proctor professor O.N. Singh resigned, owning ‘moral responsibility’ for the recent incident of alleged molestation of a girl student and the subsequent violence on campus.

Prof. Singh’s resignation was submitted to the vice chancellor around midnight and accepted shortly after.

On Wednesday, Prof. M.K. Singh was appointed as the new chief proctor. The resignation of the chief proctor came hours after the Varanasi commissioner’s report to the state government blamed the BHU administration for not handling the situation in a sensitive manner and not taking timely action which led to violence on the campus.

Multiple inquiries are being held in the BHU incident with the Varanasi commissioner having submitted his report ton UP chief secretary, the district magistrate having ordered the mandatory magisterial inquiry and the state government opting for a judicial inquiry into the incidents.

BHU vice-chancellor Prof Girish Chandra Tripathi has also announced a judicial inquiry by a retired high court judge

The National Human Rights Commission, having taken suo moto cognisance of the incident, has given four weeks to the Uttar Pradesh police and the Banaras Hindu University vice chancellor to submit reports on the alleged incident of molestation on campus and the police action during the students’ protests that followed.

Students at Banaras Hindu University had started protests on Friday morning after a girl student was molested by three men on the campus on Thursday evening.

Accusing the BHU officials of being insensitive, the students demanded action in the incident and also against security personnel who stood nearby but refused to come to the help of the victim.

On Saturday night, the police allegedly baton-charged the students while they were protesting at the university gate and in front of the vice- chancellor’s residence. Several of them were injured in the incident, which led to more violence on the
campus.

Vice-chancellor Tripathi’s statement in which he dismissed the incident as a ‘simple case of eve-teasing’ further angered the students. He also claimed that the ‘incident was deliberately staged’ a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Varanasi, reportedly at the behest of some vested interests. Prof Tripathi had also denied that the police had baton-charged protesting students.

Meanwhile, BHU sources said that all powers of the vice chancellor would be seized from Wednesday evening since he now has exactly two months to go before the retirement.

“This is being done in accordance with the BHU rules and is not linked to the incident”, said a senior faculty member.