Gargi mayhem: Mahila Congress asks HRD minister to take action

Mahila Congress chief Sushmita Dev on Monday urged Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' to take action against the alleged harrasment of students at the all-women Gargi College during a cultural festival.

In a letter to Pokhriyal, Dev said evidence has also come to light that the people responsible for this attack are from a particular ideology which points towards a right-wing mind set.

Over the years there has been politicisation of curriculum, discrimination of ideology and views, and in the past few months institutions have come under attack by people allegedly affiliated with political ideology of the "right-wing that you represent", the Mahila Congress chief said.

The most recent incident in which young girls of Gargi College were assaulted, molested, harassed and traumatised by goons, who barged into their campus during their college fest while security and police watched on, is by far the most abhorrent, she said.

The college administration was not only unable to ensure the safety of its students and those who had come to participate, but it also went as far as to blame the victims for being unable to ensure their own safety, she said.

"The attitude of the administration is extremely disturbing. Such an incident should have caused a furore in the ministry for the sheer dereliction of duty on the part of the administration and the police, but unfortunately it seems that either silence or mere lip service is all we have gotten," she said in the letter.

"But, no action has forthcoming to prevent these incidents or take action against the administration or the authorities, which not only disheartens us but also casts serious aspersions on the independence of the functioning of your ministry," Dev said.

She said the Ministry of Human Resource Development is meant to serve the nation and its youth "so I respectfully implore you to take necessary action in this matter because you are a Minister for all of us, not just of the political party that is currently in power or any particular ideology".

Four days after a group of men broke into the Gargi College and allegedly groped, harassed and molested students, Delhi Police on Monday registered a complaint as hundreds of students protested demanding strict action against the intruders.

The outrage of Gargi students following the attacks during their college festival Reverie on February 6 found wide echo with students from other colleges sharing their anguish, political parties speaking out and the issue being raised in Parliament.