PU blinks, takes dress code notice off
Bhartesh Singh Thakur
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, September 9
In her first act on Sunday, the newly elected first woman president of the Panjab University Campus Students’ Council (PUCSC), Kanupriya, forced the authorities to take off the notice pasted in Girls’ Hostel No. 1, which mandated girls to be “properly dressed” while coming to the mess area.
The Tribune had highlighted the issue in its report, “PU girls livid over dress brief at hostel”, on September 8 after which Kanupriya and other student leaders came out against it.
The notice read, “This is to inform all residents of Mata Gujri Girls’ Hostel No. 1 that they should be properly dressed while going to the common room, the dining hall or hostel office/functions, failing which it will be considered an offence and a fine may be imposed as decided by the warden.” It was mentioned that the notice was as per the hostel rule book page number 5, point number 20.
On Sunday, Kanupriya went to the hostel and asked girls to gather there. She asked them whether they should tear the notice. In the meantime, the warden, Asst Prof Suman Mor, reached the hostel.
“I talked to the Dean, Students Welfare (Women), Prof Neena Caplash. She assured me that no student would be fined over the notice, but she did not want the notice to be taken off,” said Kanupriya.
She added, “We pointed out that no such notice had been put up for teachers or hostel inmates anywhere else. The Dean then agreed to take it off. Now, the rule in the hostel handbook will also be changed. The warden argued that it was meant for freshers, but we said mature girls, who are above 18, join here.”
Moral policing
Kanupriya also took an assurance from the warden that no moral policing would take place in the hostel. “The entries from 10 pm to 11 pm, which used to be considered late, will now be considered normal,” she said.
The student council president said residents of the hostel complained that if a girl came late, she was questioned and told “roz roz yeh nahin chalega” (it will not be tolerated everyday). “The warden said they were the guardian and also needed to look at the haalat (condition) in which she (a resident) was coming back. However, when we questioned, she did not elaborate the condition in which the girls come back at night,” said Kanupriya.
“Why such a ‘sanskriti’ (culture) is being imposed on us and not in boys’ hostels,” asked the president.
A pharmacy student, who is a resident of the hostel, said, “They should tell us what properly dressed means. We are being questioned on coming late too.”
Another resident, who is also a pharmacy student, said, “They say the notice was based on the rule book. However, there are so many rules in the hostel handbook, why was only this rule chosen to be displayed on the notice board.”
The DSW (Women), Prof Neena Caplash, could not be contacted for comments.
