Indian universities are witnessing a new wave of Pinjra Tod protests. The new institutions to join the list have been Hidayatullah National Law University (HNLU), Chattisgarh, Regional Institute of Education (RIE Bhopal), and Kottayam Medical College, Kerala. Women students in all the three institutions were able to win extensions in their hostel curfew timings. They have made the administrations act on some of their other demands as well.
HNLU students were able to extend library timings till 3:00 AM which also means relaxation of curfew in a way, although with some conditional clauses. The resignation of the warden was also a demand which was met.
Hundreds of students at HNLU had protested since 27th August demanding the abolition of hostel ‘in timings’ for women students, extension of the library timings to 3:00 AM along with a host of other demands including removal of all hostel wardens and an end to financial irregularities, red-tapism, draconian UGC mandates, fund cuts to the University, etc. The protests also saw several students coming out with incidents of sexual harassment against the professors, the administrative officials and others. There were protests against repeated casteist and regionalist remarks made by the professors. The Vice-Chancellor Sukhpal Singh was removed from his post by the Bilaspur High Court on grounds of the appointment being illegal on the same day the protests sparked off. It began with a small protest on 23rd August in the women’s hostel against increasing threats of show-cause notices by the warden in an attempt to impose absolute control over the mobility of women students. Following this, the women students sat on a protest breaking the curfew on the night of 27th August demanding a complete removal of the curfew along with other demands. Since then, the students boycotted classes and relentlessly protested day and night for several days.
Curfew in the Women’s hostel of Kottayam Medical College has been extended from 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM after women students sat on a five-hour long protest outside the hostel gate on the night of 14th September.
However, the demands have been accepted and given in writing only by the warden and not by the principal. The students are apprehensive of the curfew being rolled back to 7:30 PM if the principal calls for a PTA (Parents Teachers Association) meeting. They have resolved to go on a strike at the college level if any such action is taken by the administration. The protests broke out after a General Body Meeting with the hostel authorities and principal where they refused any further discussion on the topic.
The main grievance of students was that final year women students of MBBS were not able to take PG coaching as that went beyond the curfew hours and that the library stayed open only till 8:30 PM. The students had been asking for the removal of curfew timings for more than two years now with several rounds of letters, signature petitions and negotiations with the administration. Every time the demand would be rejected by the administration saying that the PTA rejected it. The women students in their protest speeches spoke about how they had to face verbal abuse from hostel authorities before being allowed entry into the hostel if they came after the curfew time due to which they were forced to stay in the hospital casualty, other hostels or the railway station. This just exposes the contradictions of the administration’s argument of concern for the safety of women.
In RIE Bhopal, the demand of extension of hostel curfew went along with the demand to unionize. The result read: “The administration hereby confirms that the demands that were put forth by the women protesters have been duly accepted. These changes will be incorporated in the prospectus/rulebook to come but will be effective from today (15/9/18). We will not revoke these demands and also grant women the autonomy to unionize and conduct annual elections to self-determine their hostel rules and regulations which can’t be overruled by the administration without ascertaining unanimous consensus from the students.”
The women students protested relentlessly for three days and refused to discontinue the protests till their demands were met. Electricity supply was also cut in the night at a place where they protested but they remained unmoved. The protesting students arranged food for themselves all this while. The administration refused to first address the protesting students and when compelled to address invoked the same argument – “Will your parents allow you being out so late?” Following this, the administration tried to exhaust the students by prolonged dialogue which reached to no fruitful conclusion. On the first night, the women continued to protest throughout the night. The police also came inside the campus to negotiate with the protesting students but the struggle continued for three days where the students refused to budge, and finally, the administration had to accept their demands.
The new Panjab University Students’ Union president Kanupriya has also written a memorandum to the administration demanding an extension in the curfew timings. The demands she put forth are as follows:
1) Girls hostels must allow 24 hours open Entry/Exit to all the female students irrespective of their age/ department/degree.
2) To immediately stop the collection of illogical fines from students like ₹50 for absents, ₹100 for late entries, etc.
3) To put in place required infrastructural measures for making the campus safer like erecting street lights and advertising PUCASH inside the campus to be fulfilled immediately.
She writes, “Universities are a place to change the mindset of the younger generations and I believe that mindsets can’t be changed unless we have a material reality to invoke the change. 24 Hour open Girls Hostels is to initiate that change in the mindsets as campuses will automatically become safer for girls as more and more girls will walk on the streets irrespective of the time.”
In all these cases, we see how women across the country are totally refusing to cower down to patriarchal diktats, the hollow claims of safety by the administrations and parental authority that universities like to evoke from time to time. The women in universities are adult women. They have their own agency, are mature and can make rational decisions regarding their safety on their own. They won’t let any authority infantilise them. The women have had enough and the message is loud and clear.