Several women students at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) were injured in a scuffle with ABVP members on 24 September 2018, after ABVP and the students fell out over hosting an event commemorating the campus violence from 2017.
“Those from ABVP began abusing us and then started hitting us. Proctors came and then there was lathi charge,” said Deeksha Aggarwal, an Economics Honours student in Mahila Mahavidyalaya, BHU.
Avantika Tiwari recounted how she saw a fellow student being wounded on the leg and another getting a blood clot. “I, too, was caught in the middle of this. My neck and back were hurt,” said the third year BA Hindi Honours student.
The altercation took place after the ABVP members took exception to the series of events that had been organised to mark the violence that took place on campus exactly a year ago.
Tension Gripped BHU in September 2017
In 2017, BHU was charged with protests after a student complained of sexual harassment on campus. Students, mainly women, went on protest to demand action in the case and better security.
On 23 September, BHU guards and the police lathi-charged the protesting students to disperse the crowd.
Three girls, at the time, were taken in for urgent medical attention and a female professor who had tried to protect them, was also rushed to the hospital.
The Altercation
To mark one year of the violence, a group of students organised a nukkad-natak and an open mic session. After the play ended at Vishwanath temple, the students moved to the Mahila Mahavidyalaya (MMV) – the all-girls college where the lathi charge happened last year. The open mic session was to be held at the all-girls college, and as the crowd moved towards the area, the ABVP students followed the women.
While the open mic session was on, more ABVP members joined in the heckling. “They started raising slogans like – ‘China ke dalalo ko, joote maro saalon ko’ (China’s intermediaries should be thrashed), ‘urban naxal down down’ and ‘vaampanthiyo ka ek hi motto, khao, piyo sath me leto’ (The leftists have only one motto, to eat, drink and sleep together),” Avantika said.
“Then, the girls got together and formed a human chain around the open mic performance, which is when the pulling and pushing began,” says Avantika.
Anshul Bhadauria said, “We made a human chain so that they don’t interrupt us. They tried to break our mics too. They pushed us around.”
ABVP Denies Allegation
ABVP, however, denied the allegation and said that they were also interrupted and pushed around.
Vice-president of the student organisation’s BHU unit, Abhay told The Quint that the women students also made a human chain to push them.
“Their plan was to provoke us into reacting and then claim that they’re being molested,” Abhay said.
When asked why they were interrupting the nukkad-natak and open mic session, they said – “We did not understand why these women students were celebrating the violence of 23 September 2017.”
“These people were laughing and singing and sharing their experiences about a violent event. To add to that, there were people from outside BHU who were participating. We were not okay with that.”
But the fact of the matter is that BHU is an open campus and sees thousands of people – not students – entering the campus to reach the Kashi Vishwanath temple which is housed within.
What Did the Administration Do?
Proctorial board members arrived at the spot and moved the women inside the girls’ college and dispersed the ABVP students from the spot.
BHU Chief Proctor Royana Singh told The Quint, “Both parties did not take permission from the organisation before hosting the event. We got to know and rushed to the spot. Three times they came towards each other and were pulled back each time. Things are under control now.”
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