Patiala: Meri poshak meri marzi; arey aao Shankar, humse mat ghabarao Shankar, Na consent bacha na shaan, ab to chor do hamari jaan; rest in peace fundamental rights — written on blue, pink, yellow and white posters, these slogans welcome the college administration inside Patiala’s Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law where students are demanding the ouster of its vice-chancellor Jai Shankar Singh.
At the protest site is a group of students – both male and female – holding a long piece of cloth that has been turned into a canvas of handprints. They hide their faces behind this banner and project it as a symbol of personal boundaries.
“Nobody is allowed to enter our personal space and comment on our clothing, we will not accept this. We will fight against this,” said a fourth-year woman student while standing in front of the university gate.
The Rajiv Gandhi University of Law has become a battleground between protesting students and the administration, with the call for the VC’s removal reaching Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s office. On Thursday, the state women’s body chief wrote to the PM and the President, demanding the VC’s removal while calling his actions “highly inappropriate.”
On campus, protesting RGNUL students are unwilling to step back, and allege that the university administration is trying its best to dismantle the agitation. Some students even claimed that the VC’s office has been calling their parents, putting pressure on them to pull their wards out of the protest. Meanwhile, the VC, who students say, often “breaches boundaries” has maintained silence on the issue.
“The handprint on the posters symbolises the grave violations of privacy and dignity of the students by the VC,” said a woman student who was present inside the hostel on Sunday afternoon. That’s when Singh allegedly entered the mess area and the women’s hostel rooms under the pretext of a ‘surprise check’, and proceeded to question their dressing sense.
With the media’s entry banned, protesting students are addressing journalists from inside the gate. They want their message to reach the highest echelons of the government. In the background, an army of students walk from the administration office to the main gate, holding posters and raising slogans against the VC.
“Even our parents and female family members are not allowed inside the hostel rooms. How can the VC enter there without any notice or women staff?” stressed a third-year law student while raising a poster reading ‘meri poshak meri marzi’ (my clothes, my choice).
Singh has denied the charges, saying he never commented on the students’ dressing and claimed he inspected the hostel only after receiving complaints from some first-year students about ‘space issues’ in the hostel rooms. Students denied having ever made such a complaint.
The handprint on the posters symbolises the grave violations of privacy and dignity of the students by the VC – Law student, RGNUL
ThePrint contacted VC Jai Shankar and the administration for a comment but has not received a response. The story will be updated should they choose to provide one.
‘The VC police’
Sunday’s hostel visit catalysed perturbed students, prompting them to finally take to the streets. The anger, as several of them have said, has been simmering for quite some time.
From commenting on the way women students dressed to questioning their choice of subject and entering classrooms on a whim, RGNUL students cited multiple red flags that forced them to raise their voices against Singh.
Why do students like you seek admission in such high-level courses despite knowing the financial condition of your families? Why did you not do a three-year BA instead? – Scholarship student recalls V-C as saying.
But ever since the protest began, the V-C is nowhere to be seen.
“On Sunday after lunch, while my roommate and I were working on our laptops, the V-C suddenly entered our room and began asking for our names and courses. It took us a moment to understand what was happening, as we had never experienced such an inspection before, especially by a male member of the administration,” said a student.
Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law | Photo: Almina Khatoon, ThePrint
“Why do you go out wearing such short clothes; did your parents give you money to buy them?” a third-year student recalled the V-C telling her friend. “Even if an electrician comes to our room, we are always given prior notice and information, but this visit happened without any prior knowledge, which made us uncomfortable”, said the student, whose room the VC had also visited.
Meanwhile in May, when a fourth-year scholarship student of BA LLB (Honours) was unable to pay the college fees on time, the V-C lambasted him. This was despite delayed processing of the student’s scholarship due to the late release of results.
“If you did not have the status, then why did you enrol in such a prestigious university?” the V-C told him, calling him a “worthless” student aiming beyond his reach. “Why do students like you seek admission in such high-level courses despite knowing the financial condition of your families? Why did you not do a three-year BA instead?” the same student recalled the V-C as saying.
The incident triggered a panic attack in him, which led to a hospital admission and the student missing a crucial exam.
He rejected my PhD topic on theoretical criminal jurisprudence, asking me to focus on the Acts on domestic violence, divorce, and marriage. ‘You are a girl, do your PhD peacefully at home. Why are you taking up such a complicated and new topic,’ he had added – a woman PhD student at RGNUL.
Several university faculty members that ThePrint spoke to admitted Singh’s unannounced visits to the library and classes. However, they denied witnessing any untoward incidents or the V-C’s general “unacceptable behaviour.”
“When class is in session, the V-C is often seen walking around and talking to the students, but we have never heard him make such comments and all these incidents he was allegedly part of got highlighted only in the last few days,” said an assistant professor at RGNUL on the condition of anonymity.
On 26 September, the fifth day of the protest, some women students, hiding their faces behind the posters they were holding, shouted that the V-C even commented on the choice of their courses when they approached him to finalise their dissertation subject. “He rejected my PhD topic on theoretical criminal jurisprudence, asking me to focus on the Acts on domestic violence, divorce, and marriage. ‘You are a girl, do your PhD peacefully at home. Why are you taking up such a complicated and new topic,’ he had added,” a woman student remembered.
Another third-year student of BA LLB was sitting in the library with her laptop one day when Singh appeared suddenly and had a good look at her screen. “He walked through the library, looked at my laptop, and asked why I was using ‘gadgets’ to take notes instead of paper and pen,” she said.
On 5 September, when a group of students put up a dance performance with their professors in the Seminar Hall to commemorate Teachers Day, the V-C chose to walk out abruptly.
Before the event, when the students’ cultural group went to get permission from the V-C and invited him, he hit back at them with a snide remark. “He said that students only performed at such events to dance in short clothes and waste time,” a fourth-year student who was part of the cultural group claimed.
Also read: Students of Patiala’s RGNUL demand V-C’s ouster over inspection of girls’ hostel, ‘sexist behaviour’
Rain, sun and an unsupportive administration
On 26 September, the sixth day of the protest, students spoke to the media but from behind the shield of umbrellas. They’re walking a tightrope – trying to voice their concerns to the government while avoiding the wrath of college authorities.
“We are afraid that if our identities are revealed by the media, the college administration will create many problems for us in the future,” said a student from behind a black umbrella.
“Even if the protest ends, we will still have to study in this same college, and the administration could target us based on our identities. They are the ones who will conduct our exams and assign our grades, after all,” added another student who had covered her face with a mask.
Between the rain and the scorching sun, the students have had to relocate their protest site at least four times. It started in front of the V-C’s residence, then shifted to the admissions hall and later the university gate, where they had set up tents that the management promptly dismantled. Now, the protest has shifted to the admin block, where a protruding portion of the building protects them from the unpredictable weather. Some students even spend the night here, heading to the front gate whenever they have a media interaction.
“The college administration even restricted our access to several restrooms and drinking water,” alleged a fourth-year RGNUL student.
But on Saturday, the university administration allowed students to pitch tents at the main gate again. This decision comes amid students’ continuing demand for a representative body.
“If we had a student committee today, our voice would reach the officials in a more effective manner,” said the fourth-year student mentioned above.
The university, even though it has allowed students to set up tents again, has not shown much empathy. Instead, it is allegedly calling the parents of protesting students to muzzle their voices.
“The reason I’m not revealing my identity is that the V-C has called many of our homes and warned our parents that if we don’t stop the protest, we will be expelled from the college,” said one second-year BA LLB student, echoing the sentiment of several others.
“This is not an incident specific protest but a person specific one. The protest will only end once the V-C resigns,” the fourth-year student added.
After the protests began Sunday, classes were shut until further notice. Following a meeting between students and a nine-member committee constituted by the university, it was decided that classes would resume Friday. But even as the faculty and administration resumed work, students refused to attend.
They claimed dissatisfaction with the meeting, alleging that faculty members refused to listen to their concerns and shouted at them to stop the protest instead.
They said they would not budge until the V-C was shown the door. They even carried out a Whatsapp poll with fellow students, which revealed the trajectory of the week-old protest.
Showing the poll results on her phone, a student said: “We asked the protesting students whether they would take the class, and 100 per cent of the responses were no.”
(Edited by Zoya Bhatti)