A three-member team from National Commission for Women (NCW) today visited Delhi University's Hindu college in connection with a row over alleged "discriminatory" rules and high fee for its girls hostel.
Taking suo motu cognisance, the NCW had issued a notice to the college last month seeking an explanation about the hostel rules for girls which have been termed as moral policing by students.
The NCW officials interacted with the protesting students as well as college authorities.
"A three-member team of NCW visited the college today and gave a patient hearing to both the parties. The college was given a week's time to reply to the show-cause in which they failed," NCW official Ira Jha told PTI.
"The commission today extended the deadline to May 15. Any further action will be taken only after that," she added.
Hindu College has been providing on-campus hostel facilities to male students for decades. However, the girls' hostel, which has been recently constructed, was supposed to be functional from the 2016-17 session.
The prospectus for admission to the hostel triggered an outrage among the girl students who alleged that the rules laid down were "discriminatory" and amounted to "moral policing".
The prescribed fee also irked the girl students as the male students of Hindu College pay Rs 47,000 as hostel charges while the girls were asked to pay more than Rs 82,000.
The rules listed in the hostel prospectus asked students to dress as per "normal norms of the society", and made it clear that no visitors will be allowed without prior permission "including girl students". It said the residents will be allowed only one night-out in a month and also had a provision for random checks by the warden at any time.
Some of the other rules included mandatory presence of all residents in the hostel by 8.30 PM and a bar on roaming inside the hostel after 11 PM. The prospectus also said a dress code may be notified for residents, if deemed necessary.
Students have been protesting against the alleged discrimination between girls and boys while deciding the rules and the fee for the hostel.
Following protests, the college authorities had announced there will be no admissions to the girls' hostel. Students who had taken the prospectus were asked to return those and get their fee refunded.
However, later the college decided to reconsider its stand and has formed a committee to look into the issue. The Delhi Commission of Women (DCW) had also issued a notice to the college yesterday on the same issue.
