Rohtak: Haryana’s Maharshi Dayanand University has gone quiet. It’s been five days since two sanitation supervisors and the assistant registrar allegedly forced three workers to click photos of their sanitary pads to prove they were menstruating. The incident that has shocked the state, united the university’s cleaning staff, and mobilised local Dalit groups—and no one is talking about it. The workers and Dalit groups are demanding the arrest of the supervisors and the assistant registrar, but their fight has run into a brick wall of apathy.
A small town’s regressive attitude toward women has suddenly been exposed to the world. A common thread of silence binds both university WhatsApp groups and activists on the ground. While the students and teachers’ attitude is one of indifference, the activists seeking justice for the sanitation workers are driven by shame. How do we talk about “ladies’ problem”, is the question. The term is code for a natural phenomenon every woman experiences.
Everyone knows what the problem is, but no one wants to address the elephant in the room: menstruation.
The university students learned about the incident through a video clip shared on a closed group with an attached note. It informed them of “mistreatment of women sanitation workers”. However, the message did not ignite any conversation. The subsequent texts were as if the incident never happened. Students continued to exchange jokes and respond with laughter emojis.
“There is a lack of social awareness among the students here. For them, getting a job is what matters”, said a PhD student who did not want to be named.
An FIR was lodged against supervisors Vitender Kumar, Vinod Hooda and assistant registrar Shyam Sundar on Wednesday. Kumar and Hooda, who were contractual employees hired through the Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam Limited, have been suspended by the university. However, no arrests have been made yet.
What happened
The matter has not reached the homes in the town; everybody wants to keep it shut. In Rohtak, ‘ladies’ problem’ is associated with disgrace and dignity. The three women feel violated and disrespected.
“How can I work under the supervision of these men who have violated my dignity and disrespected me?” said one of the women, who is 41 years old.
The incident happened on 26 October, when the state’s Governor Ashim Kumar Ghosh was on a three–day visit to the university campus. All cleaning staff members were called to work on their off day. Assistant registrar Shyam Sundar was taking rounds of the campus, directing the workers to do their work properly. Sometimes this road had to be cleaned, sometimes that one. But any time the broom stopped moving, he would stop and admonish the workers.
“Do it properly,” he would say.
For the three workers, the day began with cleaning the road outside the library. After working for over an hour, they decided to rest near the BR Ambedkar statue. The day’s heat and the fear of being caught by the assistant registrar were getting to them. One of the workers wanted to quickly go and change her sanitary pad. But there was a hint of hesitance. The group did not know when the supervisors might come looking for them. Their next job for the day was to clean the indoor sections of the campus.
As the worker started to leave, she got a call from Kumar, pushing the group to clean the indoor areas. The trio resisted—they wanted to rest for some time. It was their first few days of bleeding, and they had already worked strenuously since morning.
Kumar could not accept the fact that multiple women were bleeding at the same time. The workers told him to wait for some time and assured him that they would clean the indoor areas before the governor started his day. They’ve been working at the campus for over a decade. All of them are in their 40s and have become friends over the years. They have shared meals, gossip, and their period dates. Their lives have synced.
A few minutes later, however, Kumar called the women again and forced them to come to the sports complex. The two supervisors were waiting for them—Kumar and Hooda.
“Go to the washroom and click a photo”, Kumar allegedly said.
Hooda, seated beside him with a big smile on his face, echoed Kumar’s words. “Go! Go! Check them.”
The three women went inside with another worker, a friend and an ally, who was also forced by the supervisors to go inside the washroom with the ladies and click photos. They used the phone of a fifth worker, who was already inside the washroom.
The women untied the drawstring of their blue-green salwar pants. And the other woman took photos of their sanitary pads that had blood spots.
“We are hurt. It tarnishes our image. It is a strike at our self-respect and honour,” said one of the three women.
These ladies left the sports complex, but the trauma remained. Two of them went to the registrar’s office to complain. They did not find anyone there. The 41-year-old worker, who is the breadwinner of her family, broke down outside the Vice-Chancellor’s building. Finding her howling, some students enquired, and the matter was taken to the administration.
The women are now fighting the administration. On Thursday, they recorded their statement in front of a committee headed by Sapna Garg, Chemistry professor and head of the sexual harassment cell. However, the matter has to be kept within the four walls. ‘Ladies’ problem’ has now become a social and political problem for Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU). There is a sense of urgency to hide, shut, and save. Hide facts, shut the truth, and save the dignity of the women workers.
No phones are allowed around the workers, no recording, and the women keep their heads covered. Even SHO Roshan Lal wants a ‘ladies’ matter’ to be discussed with a woman police officer.
ThePrint reached out to Garg, who said that the matter is sensitive and she could not comment on it. The Vice-Chancellor was not in office as he has recently undergone surgery.
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Trauma, mental health, stigma
The incident is wrapped in a blanket of embarrassment and modesty. But for the women, the struggle has just begun.
On Thursday, coming out of the first round of meetings with the university committee, their exhausted, pale faces reflect hours of relentless cross-examination.
“I have become a parrot. Same thing again and again,” one of the workers said.
They get hounded by reporters. They are surrounded by male activists trying to protect them. They have become the centre of attention, which only adds to the trauma.
“I have been getting random calls,” one of them said, looking at a phone number that has been repeatedly calling her. “They ask me to repeat everything again and again. I cannot.”
She dropped the phone and took a long breath. She had come to the university early in the morning and left along with the other women at 7 pm.
The workers have been facing verbal harassment at the hands of the supervisor for a long time. They have been scolded and bullied. “We try our best to keep the university clean, but they are never satisfied. They will find something,” said one of the women.
“It is easier to harass and bully a Dalit woman because of her caste vulnerabilities,” said Jagmati Sangwan, the national vice-president of All India Democratic Women’s Association.
In the gender hierarchy, Dalit women are counted among the lowest ranks. Their position in society makes them easier targets for exploitation. The three sanitation workers’ identity as Dalit women, working under upper-caste bosses, makes them vulnerable to abuse of power.
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Lighting candles in dorm rooms
The incident doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Casual sexual harassment and sexism are common at the MDU campus. Women’s hostels shut at 7 pm, while men’s dorms remain open for 24 hours.
A first-year BSC student from Delhi opted for MDU because she could not get the desired course in Delhi University. It was a culture shock for her. She complains about the harassment she faces every day. The rules are different for every gender. Men park their SUVs and Thars at the canteens as women students walk back to their hostels.
In July, the university was at the centre of controversy when a research scholar accused an assistant professor of sexual harassment. The professor was sacked, and the matter died down quickly.
“Nothing happened when a scholar was harassed. Now, when a sanitation worker is bullied and harassed, do you think anyone will speak?” he added.
MDU, one of the top government universities of Haryana, still exists in a world where men and women cannot talk. It is frowned upon.
Women students at the university mostly participate in marches and protests through the windows of their dorms. Sometimes they hear Bhagat Singh chants, and on others, they participate in the protests from their hostel rooms by lighting a candle.
When the entire country came out into the streets in solidarity with the RG Kar rape victim, the men of the university held a candlelight march. The women stayed in their hostel rooms because it was past their curfew.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)