Students of UoH protest against moral policing

Hyderabad: Students of University of Hyderabad (UoH) are distressed with the moral policing prevailing within the campus by the Telangana State Police. Students strongly denounced the police as perpetrators of crimes like stalking and eve-teasing. According to the student representatives, there have been several instances where police from patrolling vehicles have intimidated, harassed and threatened students walking around, which evidently curbs the latter’s right to mobility within the campus space”.

The Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment stressed on the issue during the press release. The students added that the university has an internal security staff dedicated to the security of the campus. “We do not want the State police to come and patrol inside the university campus and raise insecurity and fear in students,” they rued. In light of this incident, Prof K Laxminarayana, the President of the UoH Teachers’ Association highlighted the need for the State to end privatisation of education and said that the University is a space for debate and discussion.

“We have our internal mechanisms to deal with conflicts; we do not need external police.” Acknowledging the fact that the administration is aware of the police presence, he said that the State and the university jointly anticipate and expect protests from the affected student communities. They are therefore in the process of institutionalising police presence in the campus.

Prof. Biju from the Department of Political Science stressed that universities ought to be spaces of resistance against undemocratic state policies. “The university is supposed to be an organ of civil society and not an organ of the State. We have to maintain our autonomy and independence from the police in the interest of protecting democracy in this country.

The way invisible laws are being cited to justify police presence is harmful for democracy and in this kind of state, where we are all under surveillance, the added presence of police serves only to intimidate people and suppress dissent and democratic debate,” said the professor. Vincent Benny, the President of the Students’ Union of UoH, said, “The police should not enter the campus without invitation from university authorities.”