Dehradun

Offensive remark over dress code invites student outrage

RADHIKA NAGRATH

Angry over no action being taken against the senior member of the Management Committee (MC) who had allegedly passed an objectionable comment against some girl students for their not abiding by the dress code, the students of a post-graduate college  staged a protest in the college premises on Monday.

The students warned that they would not rest till action is taken against senior management committee member Mahant Ramanand Puri. “We would not brook such misbehavior meted out to the students by  an elderly person. We would take recourse to hunger strike if the person does not apologize for his shameful behavior,” said one of the agitating students.

Puri had allegedly made  the comment on December 10 when he found that some girl students had not  dressed  themselves in consonance with the prevalent dress code of the institution. He was further alleged to have misbehaved   with the teachers of the department of Science Management.

The president and general secretary of the institute’s student union said they wondered how the dress worn by the girls could have been against the dress code. “Trouser with  white shirt  is one very much in tune with the dress code that comprises white suit and purple dupatta. The person who has triggered the stir must account for his  highly condemnable comment,” said the president of students’ union, Abhishek Kapil while talking to The Pioneer.  He further said they would be forced to go for hunger strike if Puri is  not made to apologise.

Asked to comment on the unrest dogging the institution,  college principal  AK Ghildiyal said, “Puri has just asked for proper adherence to college’s dress code, though his tone was  a little harsh. Most of the students following the dress code, he had asked them to be more serious vis-à-vis the matter.”

Mahant Ramanand Puri said to The Pioneer, “The purpose of introducing the dress code in the college was to inculcate a spirit of discipline among the students. The students seem to have made a mockery of the dress code by attiring themselves the  way they  like.   However, we would see to it that the dress code is implemented in the right fashion in the college.”