Hyderabad: University of Hyderabad students are up in arms against the decision by the administration to suspend 10 students. Three of them have been suspended for two years. The decision to suspend the students was announced on Wednesday.
Twelve students were gi-ven a showcause notice and a meeting was held on Monday after a surprise raid on a men’s hostel ended on a sour note with university authorities accusing students of misbehaving and manhandling faculty members.
Athira Unni, a sociology girl student suspended for two years, stated, “A professor came into Pratyush’s room in an inebriated state. Why is there no action against him?” Pratyush Nirjher has also been suspended for two years. We were specifically targeted after we released a letter against the ‘regressive, patriarchal and misogynistic hostel rule book.’
The duo released the letter after Pratyush received a showcause notice on Oct-ober 27 for having a girl in his room.
Kuldeep Singh, another student, said, “I was given a showcause notice but my name does not figure in the suspension list. I can vouch for the fact that there was no manhandling or physical violence. However, for this moral policing, they conducted meetings at midnight to take a decision.”
The authorities noted that lights at the hostel were switched off by students to manhandle the staff during the raid.
A resident of J Hostel said, “The light was swit-ched off at least thrice. We could hear a lot of sloganeering but no physical violence was seen.”
The students complained that this was a direct attack against gender sensitisation committee as Titanjali Dam, elected student representative, has also been suspended for six months.
Megha Menon, a student, said, “The current president, Sreerag P, ex-president Kuldeep Singh and Titanjali came to the hostel representing the union. Titanjali has been punish-ed whereas the other two students have been given letters of appreciation.
The university authorities stated, “The University rejects allegations of moral policing. A hostile group of students had quickly gathered there, switched off lights and manhandled the faculty team. If not for the timely intervention of a couple of students and the police, the situation would have gotten worse.”
