Journalism of Courage
It was an interesting sight to watch as Punjab’s Advocate General Atul Nanda and future lawyers on the campus of Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law (RNGUL) Tuesday had an open interaction over issues of students for which they had been on protest for six days. The two major demands of students were an inquiry against administrative officer Captain (Retd) S P Singh for alleged sexist remarks against girls and access to library for girls till 1 am as it is for boys.
Sitting under an umbrella with the students on auditorium stairs as the mercury rose, Nanda gave an opportunity to all students to put their points forward and told them to trust him “as their representative in front of university authorities”. He would cleverly use his humour and wit to lighten up the moment. But he also got a taste of arguing with future lawyers who stuck to their points and kept putting them forward if Nanda disagreed, and kept trying to convince him that all their demands are genuine. In the end, future lawyers of RGNUL won in convincing Nanda over all their demands, who further put them in front of the authorities, and the protest was called off late in the evening after a written agreement.
Nanda said what prompted him to come over as a mediator was that the matter “should not have come this far”. Asking students to put forward their points, he said, “The floor is yours.. I am all ears.”
“If you have reposed faith in me and and if I have to show my face again to you… I am sure you will be happy,” he said, trying to convince the students that he is on their side.
After girls raised the issue of inequality on campus like they are not allowed to access library till 1 am but boys are, Nanda said, “Let me tell you I am a firm believer in equality. Just to assure women here, I am an advocate general and I have a core office in which there are four lawyers and all of them are women.”
“In this age I don’t think there is any room for discrimination between women and men,” he said, assuring the girls that their demands are justified.
A girl student said, “We have no problem with timings of main gate entry till 8 pm. Women are denied entry in library after 9 pm and that is our problem. We are supposed to report to hostel at 9 pm but males are given access to library till 1 am. We as women are paying equal fee as anyone else. We demand, not demand but it is our right to have access to all education opportunities that university claims to provide to all students.”
To this, Nanda adopted a diplomatic approach and said that while he agrees to demands of girls which is completely justified, there is some liability on the administration too for safety and security of students which he cannot ignore and that he has to ‘hear them too’. He suggested that one unified time will be selected which will be applicable to both boys and girls to report back to hostels.
“Can I suggest a solution that I can think of.. I studied your university Act. If anything untoward happens to any student, the liability comes on VC. While I agree to your demand that there should be free flow within the campus, I don’t see much difficulty in it. Last night I did not sleep at all. I studied policies of Bangalore and Rajasthan universities and they are all different. Bangalore is 24×7 open campus. I intend to do, and when I say intend to do, it is you who are going to instruct me and I will represent you before the committee. We will freeze a unified time for both men and women. It may be 11 or 12 taking into consideration concerns of administration because I don’t want any law and order problem or any untoward incident. I have to hear them too (administration),” he said.
Later, as per the written agreement, it has been agreed that both boys and girls can access library till 12 midnight. Their demand to constitute a students’ representative general body, an independent inquiry against SP Singh (and sent on compulsory leave till inquiry is concluded) and revoking of suspension of six students were also agreed upon.
“You are all adults… if you want to sit with somebody… if you want to go out with somebody.. forget about anything you all are free.. you can make your decisions.. no one can impose on you… but at same time we can’t ignore authorities. If we fix a time, let’s say 1 o’ clock… then after 1, it is on your own peril and you are on your own. There will be no liability on administration,” said Nanda as all students agreed.
However, a girl student told Nanda, “In papers, reporting time in hostels for both boys and girls is 9 pm but there is a huge difference between practise and theory. If I reach at 9.01 pm then call goes to my parents. Boys reporting is also 9 pm but they can access library till 1 am. Such stipulations are not placed on boys. Education and right to study is not bastion or entitlement of any particular gender. We are fighting for equality and freedom against discrimination.”
Another girl pitched in and said, “We are not against security guards and cameras on campus but you can’t deny us equality saying you care for us. If you care for us then care for our education also and give us access to to library till 1 am. We are open to having more cameras on campus.”
Nanda said, “Point taken, it’s a very good suggestion to have more cameras.”
Another fifth-year girl student then said that there have been many incidents related to security of girls earlier but proper action was not taken. “We are not demanding 24×7 open campus at all. We are just demanding access to library till it is open,” she said.
Nanda said that to many of the problems, he sees a solution if a students’ body is constituted. He also said that there are four stakeholders when it comes to discussing all issues — campus administration, students, government and parents. However, his idea to have a separate parents’ body was junked by students.
“I promise I will not let you down but then you should also not let me down. If I argue your points well in front of authorities, can we have a party by 7 pm?” said Nanda, as some students nodded their head in disapproval. They said they cannot end protest till they do not get written assurance on acceptance of their demands to which Nanda said ‘obviously’.
He then rekindled his personal relationship with parents of some students and said, “I know parents of many of you. Writing is just a form. If I commit to you, I will make sure I will put forth your point very forcefully. You will have to trust somebody.”
Most importantly, he brought a sigh of relief to students who hadn’t prepared for their exam due to protest and it was scheduled for 3 pm. Getting their exam postponed after talking to the authorities, Nanda asked the students to take him to mess to taste food they eat. The boys said that he should accompany them to boys’ mess to which he replied, “Don’t worry, we will have a co-ed mess.”
