The Varanasi Commissioner on Tuesday blamed the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) administration for mishandling the situation on the campus by turning a deaf ear to victim’s molestation complaint thus aggravating the situation.
Varanasi Commissioner Nitin Gokarn on Tuesday sent a report to Chief Secretary Rajiv Kumar stating that university did not deal with the victim’s complaint in a sensitive manner, IANS reported. The report also said if the matter had been settled on time, there would not have been such a big controversy.
Meanwhile, the Yogi Adityanath Government ordered a magisterial enquiry into the police excesses on the campus on September 23. After a meeting of the Cabinet chaired by the Chief Minister, UP Government spokesperson and Power Minister Srikant Sharma told reporters, “A judicial enquiry has been ordered into the incidents.”
Sharma said the Govern-ment wanted communication to be established among the students, local administration, the Vice-Chancellor and BHU officials. He accused the Oppo-sition parties of trying to vitiate the academic atmosphere.
“If they (Opposition) wish to do politics, they should do it with us and not with students. They should keep away from holding agitations on campuses,” Sharma said.
On lathicharge on girl students agitating against molestation on campus, he said, “We are identifying the outsiders who are using students for their politics and also the cops who resorted to lathicharge. The Varanasi district administration has been asked to strengthen security on the campus and install CCTV cameras on the campus.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the Varanasi District Magistrate wrote to the Registrar asking him to take immediate steps to address the concerns of girl students. Reports are also doing the rounds that the BHU V-C’s chair is now at risk for having failed to handle the situation.
In a related development, taking suo motu cognisance of inaction by BHU authorities into the complaint of molestation and subsequent use of unwarranted force on agitating students, mostly women, by police, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued notice to the State Government seeking detailed report.
The Chief Secretary, the DGP and the Vice-Chancellor of BHU were directed to include details of action taken against miscreants and precautionary measures taken to ensure that such incidents do not recur in future. The response has been expected within four weeks.
An NHRC communique on Tuesday stated that the Commission has observed that contents of media reports carried on September 25 and 26, 2017, were indicative of lapses on part of BHU authorities, including security guards, who instead of taking quick action into the complaint of molestation, allegedly, indulged in sarcastic comments towards the victim girl.