BHU violence: National Commission for Women begins probe, says V-C will get to explain his side of story

Varanasi: Acting chairperson of National Commission for Women (NCW) Rekha Sharma on Thursday said a probe will be initiated at all levels in September’s Banaras Hindu University (BHU) violence and the vice chancellor be given an opportunity to explain his side of the events. Sharma, who arrived in the temple town on Wednesday, reached the BHU campus on Thursday. She went straight to the guest house, interacted with girls and held a hearing on the issue. [caption id=“attachment_4094559” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of students protesting at BHU. PTI[/caption] “If he (Vice Chancellor Girish Chandra Tripathi) wants to put up his side of the story well and good, otherwise he will be asked to appear before the National Commission for Women and do so,” Sharma told the media in Varanasi. The NCW chief also said that since both the police and the BHU authorities were denying any cane-charge on girl students, the matter needs to be probed threadbare, at all levels. Violence had erupted on the BHU campus on 24 September when students from boys’ hostels hurled stones and petrol bombs at the police and paramilitary forces on VC Lodge Road on campus. Students had gone berserk following reports of some hostel inmates suffering injuries in the cane-charge by policemen near the VC lodge. Police had resorted to use of force after a group of boys blocked the gate of the vice chancellor’s lodge in support of girls residing in hostels protesting against the menace of harassment on campus. The girls had held a 13-hour demonstration even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, also the Lok Sabha MP from Varanasi, was in the city on a two-day visit.