Women activist slams MANIT diktat, says such orders 'totally uncalled for'

Women activist Shamina Shafiq on Friday slammed the 'diktat' issued by Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology (MANIT) in Bhopal wherein female students have been asked not to wear shorts and skirts in the campus, saying such order are totally uncalled for.

"I would like to know what kind of diktats have been given to boys in the sense how to behave and how to ensure that your fellow mates are respected. Why don't we see such diktats and why the girls are only on the receiving end," former National Commission for Women (NCW) member Shamina Shafiq told ANI.

"If the college felt that there is particular kind of dress code, which the students have to adhere to, they should have initiated this entire process right at the inception of the college and university. Not five years or ten years, you suddenly get up and say you can't wear this," she added.

Shafiq further said that even if the college feels that it need to change the dress code, they can sit with students and discuss the problems because they are not children they are adults.

'There can be a mutual consensus on what kind of dresses can be worn in colleges. These kinds of diktats are totally uncalled for," she said.

Female students of institute in Bhopal today raised slogans and staged a protest over dress code and hostel timings.

The protesting students alleged that the institute authorities have stipulated 9.30 p.m. as the deadline for them to enter the hostel, while there is no such restriction on boys.

In the same notice, the administration of the institute had also asked girls not to wear shorts and skirts on the campus. However, the decision was later dropped after protests by the students.