College students protest, allege harassment over dress code

Tribune News Service

Jammu, August 22

Students of Government College for Women (GCW), Parade, today held protests against their alleged “harassment” in the name of discipline, dress code and punctuality by the college administration.

The students also blocked roads at Library Chowk, Kachi Chawni and outside the college gate, leading to traffic jams.

The protesters demanded immediate removal of the college Principal, Anita Sudan. They also levelled allegations against a watchman and faculty members of the college, saying that “they don’t know how to treat women with respect”. Besides, Muslim students alleged that they were asked not to wear burqa or hijab while entering the college.

“We were denied entry into the college for wearing a hijab or burqa. The watchman talked to us rudely and asked us to deposit our hijab or burqa at the gate. This is sheer harassment of students in the name of dress code and discipline. We cannot leave our culture, come what may,” a college student opposite said.

Another protesting student alleged, “Watchmen of the college don’t behave properly with students and pass lewd remarks. There are other women colleges in the city but there is no such problem there. Why are we beingsubjected to this harassment in the name of dress code? We are not kids.”

The students boycotted classes and raised slogans against the principal of the college.

Principal Sudan, however, denied the allegations, saying, “Some outsiders have instigated the students and it is a planned conspiracy to create trouble on the college campus.”

“We received complaints of parents that their wards were not attending the college regularly. We looked into the issue and found that some students came to the college but left the campus on one pretext or the other. We decided to ensure punctuality and for this, we put restrictions on the entry and exit of students. We decided to close all gates of the college by 10.30 am and no students would be allowed to leave college before 1.40 pm, except during compelling situations,” the Principal said.

She added, “As per college norms, the girls have to follow a dress code which is “white salwar, kameez and dupatta. We have about 6,200 students in the college. We can’t allow any student to violate this code as it helps us in their identification.”

However, looking at students’ complaints against watchmen, four of them have been sent on forced leave, she said.