The University of Hyderabad Students' Union, on Monday, staged a protest in front of the university, calling it out for moral policing students. The union alleged that the administration has been penalising students for no crime and have been morally policing them for even sitting next to people of the opposite sex. "In the recent past, we have had incidents where the Registrar has levied fines as hefty as Rs 23,000 on boys and girls for just sitting with each other. This is quite problematic and disrupts freedom of academic spaces," says UoHSU President Abhishek Nandan.
He added that multiple students have complained against security guards taking their photographs on their personal phones and circulating them via WhatsApp. However, EdexLive has not able to speak with any of these students or independently verify these claims. "It has come to our notice that security guards are taking pictures of students from their personal mobile phone cameras. This is forwarded through WhatsApp and other messaging apps. This is a big threat to our ‘right to privacy'. First of all, in case of indiscipline or misconduct, the security should be, at the maximum, allowed to ask for registration number and name, which is enough for the administration to track down any student," reads a statement from the student's union.
The students have also said that the administration has been bypassing the proctorial board and grievance cells to take action against students. "In the last two months, this has become like a norm, in any case of misconduct or indiscipline by students are not referred to the proctorial board. The CSO office is taking suo moto actions even to the extent of referring cases to the Telangana Police," reads the statement. Apart from these, the students have also sought removal of security from hostel gates and to revoke two previous circulars that 'curbed dissent'.
We have written to the university seeking a comment on this issue. This copy will be updated if/when they respond.
