Abhishek Gupta, the MA final-year student of Allahabad University (AU) who was allegedly harassed by the institute’s proctorial board, told EdexLive that he had questioned the university administration against extra fees charged along with the hostel fees.
Speaking about the incident, the student claims, “There was an additional amount of Rs 500 being charged with the hostel fees. I, along with a few other students of Sir Sunder Lal (SSL) hostel, questioned this and asked to see the receipt for the same. After this, we were threatened by the hostel administration. In another incident, we tried to oppose the hostel mess being used to prepare food for the proctorial board and other authorities instead of the students. After this, I was called to the proctor’s office without any prior notice.”
To recall, a voice recording of Abhishek Gupta being physically and verbally abused by Assistant Superintendent of SSL Hostel Dr Atul Narayan Singh in the presence of AU’s Proctor Rakesh Singh, went viral on social media last week. Following this, students of the university have been continuously protesting on the university campus since January 29.
While the university removed Dr Singh from his post of SSL hostel assistant superintendent with immediate effect on Tuesday, January 30, the students continued their protest, demanding immediate suspension of Atul Narayan, who continues to be a part of the proctorial board, and AU police outpost in-charge, Vinay Singh.
Abhishek further informed EdexLive that while he tried to file a police complaint against the university authorities, no action has been taken yet into the matter.
“I approached the police. My medical test was also done but the FIR has not been filed yet. The vice-chancellor assured us by saying that no student will face injustice but still, we have not received any word from her,” added Abhishek.
On Saturday, February 3, the university said that Vice-Chancellor Sangita Srivastava has taken cognizance of the matter and both parties will be given an opportunity to present their views and facts.
