Protests After Wardens Strip Students Over ‘Used Pad’ in Bathinda

Authorities at the university have since terminated the services of four female employees for ‘dereliction of duty’.

Authorities at the Akal university have since terminated the services of four female employees for ‘dereliction of duty’.

(Photo: ANI)

Students of Akal University, a private institute in Punjab’s Bathinda district, escalated their protests on Tuesday, 30 April, after girls in one of the hostels on campus were allegedly asked to strip by two wardens to check who among them had purportedly dumped a soiled sanitary napkin in a toilet.

Authorities at the University have since terminated the services of four female employees – a warden, an assistant warden and two security guards – for ‘dereliction of duty’ after students protested against the incident, ANI reported.

However, no police complaint has been lodged against the University employees in question, Hindustan Times reported.

Talwandi Sabo SHO, Sukhdev Singh, confirmed that they had not received a complaint from either the girls or university authorities in this connection as of Monday, the report said.

The alleged incident took place on Thursday night, following which the students had filed a complaint with the Vice-Chancellor, Gurmail Singh, the next day.

The varsity authorities had initially described the incident as “a small mistake” but were forced to respond, with the sacking of the four employees, amid mounting pressure from the students, The Times of India reported.

The students, however, escalated their protests over the delay in taking action and the ‘extremely conservative’ atmosphere on campus, where male and female students are not allowed to even talk to each other.

Students at the Akal University protesting against the strip-search incident.(Photo: ANI)

“We have been standing firmly against the wardens and authorities and demanding legal action against the wardens,” the protesting university students said, as per the report.

The wardens of the girls’ hostel had allegedly found soiled sanitary pads in the toilet and strip-searched over a dozen students in a bid to 'identify the culprit’.

‘Took Strict Action’

The varsity’s dean of academics, MS Johal, meanwhile, condemned the incident and said that the authorities had done due diligence in the matter.

He said that they had taken strict action and had terminated the services of the two wardens and two security guards in question, for forcing the students to face “unwanted behaviour.”

“We will ensure that such incidents don’t repeat in the future,” Johal added.

(With inputs from ANI, Hindustan Times, The Times of India)