By Abhishek Pandey

Council of Degree College principles have decided to ban mobile phones for all students and wearing jeans for girl students in the colleges in Kanpur. The latter decision taken by principles have created furor among the girl students and women organization. In the wake of unconstitutional decisions taken by the university professors, Uttar Pradesh government has warned universities and colleges to stay away from theses kinds of unconstitutional norms in the colleges.

Earlier, the similar decision taken by the Principle of Dayanand Girls Degree College was criticized by the feminist groups. The principal of the college said in an interview, which was published in the newspaper, that the body hugging jeans invite sexually coloured remarks to girl students and it might tempt eve teasers. The reason of ban given by the principal was not justifiable. It is like that ‘Don’t earn money because it might invite thieves to rob you.’ The victims of eve teasing were given punishment rather to put a stop on eve teasing and other molestation cases in the city, which happen with the girls without any discrimination on the ground of attires. The council wants to clad girl students in ‘modest’ dresses like salwar suits to protect girls from the uncontrollable activities of bad elements.

Most of the women organizations are of the view that it is total infringement of women’s fundamental rights which are enshrined in the constitution of India. Article 15 of the constitution prohibits any one to discriminate any citizen of India on the ground of sex, caste or religion. Article 21 of the constitution gives the rights to everyone to move freely and live life with dignity. The decision of the council does not give a damn to it. It seems that Principles of degree colleges are ignoramus about the constitutional rights of women.

The council has not given any special instruction to boys on dress code. This discrimination is against the constitution. Though, Article 39 of Indian constitution enables the state institutions to take affirmative actions for women empowerment but the institution seems to work against it. Indian government and other non government institutions are fighting for the rights of women because the progress of the nation can not speed up without including the female population, which amount to 48% of the total population. Even after the independence the female literacy ration could not cross 50% though government has implemented special educational schemes for the girls. These discriminatory decisions would discourage girls morally and made them feel second class citizens.

Recently, France President Nicholas Sarkozy has decided that veiling, which is prevalent in Islamic culture, was not welcome in the country because it was no a symbol of religion but sign of subservience for women. Indian intelligencia like professors of Chatrapati Shahu Ji Maharaj University (Kanpur) should learn lessons from the France.

Police administration of the city must ensure the safety of the girls from the bad elements of the society. Banning jeans is not an appropriate solution to put a stop on these wrongdoings. It will rather boost the morale of hooligans. Either college administration should make similar rules for both genders or they should restrain themselves from taking unfair norms. Modesty in college dress is needed. As for as the dress code in the colleges is concerned, not only girls but also boys should follow the self made regulations to maintain the decorum of the educational institutes.

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By Abhishek Pandey

On the republic day morning, there was a stark contrast in daily newspapers. On one side, we were going to celebrate the 60th Republic day of India and on the other side the freedom of individuals were hurt by some lumpen goons of Shri Ram Sene in Mangalore district of Karnataka. The incident took place on the eve of Republic day in Amnesia pub, where some party lovers were enjoying their evening in the pub’s lounge. Guests were attacked by self-claimed moral police and activists of Shri Ram Sene. Activists of the sene claimed that girls were drinking alcohol, wearing indecent dresses and indulging in vulgar activities. They said that it was against their culture (Indian culture) and they would not allow girls to visit pubs and bars. It was awful, shameful and blot on a republic and democratic nation.

They are not custodians but just thugs. Even if they were doing so who gave them power to correct the situation and take the laws in their hands. They say that they are representative of Indian and Hindu religion. Who gave them the post of custodians on behalf of India or Hindu religion? If they are talking that pub culture is neither belongs to India or Hinduism. They must have forgotten the visuals of our religious serial on our mythological epics in which Inder and other Devtas drink som rasa (wine) and enjoy the dances of apsaras. I think that Indians are pioneers of the pub culture. But molesting, pulling up helpless girls’ hair and beating them up are absolutely no where in the Hindu religion or in the Indian culture. This is the high time for the extremist to stop invading the privacy of individuals otherwise they will face the music.

Our system has collapsed everywhere in tackling against extremists be it against Raj Thakrey and his goons in Mumbai or against Bajrang Dal in Orissa, Karnataka and MP. This time Shri Ram sene has challenged the system again and let see, what would be the response of the government this time. Comments from the senior political leaders like Union health minister, Ambumani Ramdoss, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gahlot, Karnataka CM BS Yedurappa and others on the sensitive issues like this should not directly or indirectly hail or justify the deeds of law-breakers. The response from the political parties and their leaders is also not praise-worthy.

If going to pub is allowed to men then for what reasons the girls and women are not allowed. It is the hypocrisy of these lunatic fringes. They don’t care about the Indian culture; even they don’t know what it is. Molesting women in public places is not Indian culture and never, it was. Violence and intolerance is not Indian culture. They must turn back few pages of history to learn something about our culture from Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi. It is the absolute violation of human rights of the girls and women. State government must take stern steps to stop these incidents in future. Not only the perpetrators of the incident but also their political bosses, should be punished for Talibanising the country and breaking the law. Otherwise, what would be difference between us and Taliban, which is ruling in Afghanistan and in the North- West frontier areas of Pakistan, where girls are not allowed to even go to schools and their human rights are in danger because of fatwa issued by some mullah. We are living in a democratic nation and Government should make sure this time that it will not let this happen again in our ‘cultured’ society called India.

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