Varanasi: The Uttar Pradesh government has finally intervened in the Banaras Hindu University case, a day after both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah asked the UP chief minister about the Saturday night incident.
The Varanasi district magistrate has written to the BHU Registrar asking him to take immediate steps to address the concerns of the female students. Meanwhile, it is being said that the university V-C’s chair is now at risk, after he failed to handle the situation.
On Saturday night, police resorted to lathicharging hundreds of girls outside the BHU campus, where they were protesting against the molestation of a fellow student, university authorities who ended up victim shaming her and a general lack of security on campus. The protests turned violent when some miscreants tried to burn a few properties and police used force to quell the agitation.
The DM has asked the university authorities to constitute committees according to the Supreme Court guidelines, to ensure safety of women on campus, ensure security and increase facilities at the girls’ hostel.
While V-C Girish Chandra Tripathi’s first term comes to an end in November, he may be eased out of office even before that. The government is clearly not happy with the handling of the situation in a critical constituency, that too when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in town.
On the sidelines of BJP national executive on Monday, PM Modi and Amit Shah had a talk with UP CM Yogi Adityanath on the student protest in Varanasi.
The BHU Commissioner has meanwhile sent an interim probe report to the chief secretary. While the details of the report were not shared, sources say it questions the role of the university administration and top government officials, in dealing with students’ protest.
Tripathi, who is considered close to RSS Joint General Secretary Dr Krishna Gopal, was one of the first appointments cleared by the HRD Ministry to a central university, when NDA came to power in 2014.
"His term ends in November, why is there a need to take action now anyway," a source in the HRD Ministry told News18.
Tripathi, it is said, is also in the reckoning for the post of the Universities Grants Commission (UGC) chief. The developments in BHU in the past one week may have an impact on his chances for the plum UGC post. The vice-chancellor has also been very vocal about his association with the RSS.
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