Varanasi: Chief Proctor of Banaras Hindu University Professor Onkar Nath Singh resigned on Wednesday citing “moral responsibility” for the violent protests that rocked the campus last week.
Sources said Singh was asked to step down by the HRD ministry which is reportedly unhappy with the way student protests against eve-teasing and harassment on campus were handled.
The Chief Proctor is the official charged with ensuring law and order on university campus.
On Tuesday, the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of BHU had come out with a list of demands, including suspension of vice chancellor GC Tripathi. The demands also include “suspension of District Magistrate, SSP of Varanasi and strict legal action against the culprits.”
This came as the Yogi Adityanath government in the state ordered a judicial inquiry into the violence on campus.
Earlier in the day, the Varanasi district magistrate had written to the BHU Registrar asking him to take immediate steps to address the concerns of the female students. It was also said that the university V-C’s chair is now at risk after he failed to handle the situation.
The UP government finally intervened in the BHU case, a day after both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP President Amit Shah asked the UP chief minister about the Saturday night incident.
On Saturday night, police resorted to lathicharge hundreds of girls outside the BHU campus, where they were protesting against the molestation of a fellow student, university authorities who ended up victim shaming her and a general lack of security on campus.
The protests turned violent when some miscreants tried to burn a few properties and police used force to quell the agitation.
On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah spoke to the CM and asked him to address the issue at the earliest.
UP government spokesperson and cabinet minister Srikant Sharma said that the government wanted communication between students, local administration, vice chancellor and other university officials. Sharma accused the opposition parties of trying to vitiate the academic atmosphere.
“If they wish to do politics, they should do it with us and not with students. They should keep away from holding agitations in campuses,” he said.
On the lathicharge claims, he said, "We are identifying those 'outsiders' who are using the students to do politics and also identifying those who indulged in lathicharge."
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