Safety more important than college’s interest,rules HC

Though Ayesha had no complaints with her studies and secured a respectable 65 per cent marks in her first year,it was an incident that she witnessed a few months ago that drove her request for migration from the college.

On July 30,Ayesha saw some people assault two girls on the road outside the college and that is when she knew action was essential.

She decided to move to a day college.

But to Ayesha’s dismay her college — Ram Lal Anand College (Evening) at Benito Juarez Marg — refused to give a no-objection certificate for migration to Maitreyi College in Chanakyapuri.

The teenager,however,decided to challenge the college’s decision and moved the Delhi High Court saying she was concerned about her safety and though evening classes are usually over by 7 pm,there were many instances when she had to stay back after college hours.

The court sided with Ayesha,directing her college to give a migration certificate with immediate effect to a day college of her choice.

“It gets dark and the road outside the college becomes lonely and deserted especially in the winters and proper transport facilities are also not available outside the college,” she said in her petition filed through her counsel D R Nigam. She said that her parents’ were concerned about her safety and the tension at her home due to this was more than she could bear. She also stated that she is her parents’ only child.

“At times mother has to come and pick me up. The long wait outside the college gates is affecting my health,” she told Justice Anil Kumar,who heard her case.

Rubbishing the college’s refusal to allow her to shift owing to a “policy decision against migration of any student”,Justice Anil Kumar observed in his judgment that the “apprehension of Ayesha about her safety outweigh the interests of the college”.

The college had argued that Ayesha’s fears were “cooked up” and a result of an afterthought as she was “keen to go to a day college and therefore biding her time in the evening classes”.

The court,however,supported Ayesha’s submission that she had selected an evening college because she could not get admission to a day college near her home — a requirement which has been accomplished now with Maitreyi College willing to take her on board.