By Siddhant Mohan, TwoCircles.net
In a surprising ‘twist’ to the ongoing protests at the Banaras Hindu University, the University’s vice-chancellor Prof GC Tripathi has gone missing since Sunday, an absence which sources inform as a kind of ‘leave’. Messages over Whatsapp started circulating since Monday regarding the absence of BHU vice-chancellor.
The news erupted after vice-chancellor did not attend the Gandhi Jayanti programme at the campus today.
The BHU VC has been in the news recently after he mishandled the situation at the campus when the girl students of the university go on protest demanding safeguard practices inside the campus.
VC allegedly ordered lathi-charge at the students. including girls and later even refused to acknowledge the incident on campus.
GC Tripathi had been terming the abrupt protest as planned and pre-scheduled. But HRD ministry showed displeasure over the stance which VC took in handling the situation. Reportedly, the HRD ministry was thinking to send the vice-chancellor on forced leave, but university officials had termed the leave as “personal”.
No university official responded to our calls regarding the allegations in the case. Moreover, the university’s acting VC – who assumes the charge in absence of vice-chancellor – did not respond to the calls or messages.
Tripathi’s leave also puts students in the dilemma of whether they should see this as their win or as a gesture just to console them momentarily. One student told us, “If he is sent on leave by the ministry then we can at least say that is good news but if he is actually on leave because of personal reasons, that is not acceptable.”
N0 GSCASH yet in campus
During the protests on September 24, the Varanasi DM Yogeshwar Ram Mishra had promised the students of setting up a GSCASH (Gender Sensitization Committee against Sexual Harassment) within the university in few days. But instead of setting up the GSCASH, the university administration has now informed the students that they will be setting up an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) in the University.
This step has not gone down well with students as ICC is a committee which is constituted by University administration unlike GSCASH, where students elect a female representative which is responsible for GSCASH proceedings and actions.
Moreover, the administration still smells a conspiracy theory behind the student protest at the university as a result of which several charges including “attempt to murder” were loaded with the students and the activists. These students and activists include Vikas Singh, Atul Prakash Jaiswal, LN Sharma, Mrityunjay Kumar Maurya, Himanshu Prabhakar, Dhananjay Tripathi, Sunil Yadav, Shantanu, Yashpal Singh and Roshan Pandey.
These people have been charged with section 147, 148, 149, 353, 332, 307, 336, 427 and 436 of the Indian Penal Code.
Sunil Yadav, BHU alumni, and activist wrote on the Facebook wall, “We are asked to submit our statement against these charges but did someone ask the VC why he lied about lathi-charge even though it was based on his orders?”
“The investigating committee constituted for the event on September 22 and 23, did not ask us for the allegations and incidents for which we are being charged,” said Yadav.
Roshan Pandey, a graduate student and one of the listed in the cases, said, “This is a pure practice to victimise us. Anybody can testify that where was I when the violence was happening.”
This is not the first time when Roshan has been listed in any case against the University. “I have been raising issues of the University, and that may be the reason that administration in and outside the campus do not like what we do.”
For Roshan and the other accused of the case, which they term ‘fake’, a fair investigation of student violence along with police lathicharge should also be done. But the University’s VC has gone missing since Monday morning keeping many issues in limbo.