Jadavpur 'sanitary pad protest': Students refuse to relent

Refusing to abandon their protest despite authorities' disapproval, a section of Jadavpur University students were seen scribbling feminist messages on sanitary pads and sticking a fresh batch inside the campus on Tuesday.

Both male and female students, participated in the campaign following similar protests in New Delhi's Jamia Millia Islamia, where sanitary napkins were used to spread feminist messages and deride sexism.

Disapproving of the "sanitary pad" campaign against rape and sexism on campus, the Jadavpur University on Monday set up a three-member fact-finding panel to probe the matter.

"We are not bothered with the disapproval of the authorities. If they have no problems when we stick posters or do wall art, then why do they have a problem with sanitary napkins" This shows the authorities themselves think of the issue as a taboo," Arumita Mitra, a protesting student of the varsity, told IANS.

Stuck on walls and trees across the campus, the pads have messages like "I wish the rape culture repulsed you more than my blood" and "Naming and shaming the victim is sexual violence".

Mitra said the students intend to take the agitation outside the walls of the campus.

"When we came back to college after the weekend, we saw that the pads that were stuck had been removed. We are not going to stop and today (Tuesday) we are putting up a fresh round of pads," she said.

The students put pads with messages on the walls of the administrative department as well.

The protest comes days after a first year student was allegedly molested and assaulted inside the campus.

"We wrote scores of messages on sanitary napkins and posters condemning sexual violence and rape culture, also keeping in mind the recent developments in Jadavpur University. We hope this initiative will find acceptance among the students of the University and also ones outside it... Let the battle against Patriarchy continue," one of the protestors said on Facebook.

The unique protest finds it roots in "Pads Against Sexism" a campaign initiated by Elone Kastratia, a German woman who wrote messages against rape and sexism on sanitary pads and stuck them at public places in Karlsruhe in Germany on International Women's Day.