DU girls approach DCW against letters to parents over water protest

Protesting the letters sent to their parents for staging an agitation against water crisis in their hostel, female students from Delhi University today approached the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) and varsity Vice Chancellor alleging "witch-hunt" by administration.

Over 200 students of Delhi University's Undergraduate Hostel for Girls (UGHG) had held a protest on April 23 which went on till around 2.30 AM the next day. There was no water supply to the hostel for two months.

Delhi Water Minister and Delhi Jal Board (DJB) Chairman Kapil Mishra had met the protesting students and addressed them around midnight. Water supply was restored on April 25.

A month after the incident happened, parents of some of the students involved in the protest received a letter sent by the hostel administration saying the act was in violation of rule and can have bad impact on other residents.

Mishra, also objected to the letters sent to parents and said he will raise the issue with DU VC Yogesh Tyagi.

"This is intolerable. I will raise it with VC.  Students highlighted the failure of DU admin. DU shd be thankful," he said in a tweet.

A protesting student said, "calling or writing letters to parents as a threat to silence the voices and resistance of women students will not be tolerated any more. This is gender discrimination and harassment, and has to be called out as that".

"The university has to stop treating us an infantile 'girls' and recognize that we are independent adult women who demand that the university be accountable to us and the constitution," she added.

The students today approached the DCW, terming the letters sent to their parents as witch-hunt by DU for raising their voice against the administration.

"This is an age-old sexist ploy universities have constantly used against women students, colluding with the patriarchal and casteist family's desire to control and restrict women's aspirations and dreams," the complaint sent to DCW said.

The students also marched to the Vice Chancellor's office but were stopped midway by the university's security.

Representatives from the Delhi University Dean of Student Welfare (DSW) and Proctor Office met the students and took their memorandum of demands.