An order by Calicut University authorities restricting women from meeting Vice-Chancellor M. Abdul Salam citing reasons of alleged “assault threat from trained women groups” has evoked widespread condemnation from the campus community.
Women employees, teachers and students, rising above their political affiliations, joined hands on Monday to condemn the order. They demanded immediate revocation of the order.
The women of Calicut University campus took out a protest march to the Administrative Block.
Addressing them, Association of Calicut University Teachers (ACT) leader and Syndicate member Fatimat Zuhara said that the university order banning women from visiting the Vice-Chancellor was unjustifiable.
“We don’t want a Vice-Chancellor who rules us by sitting in a remote location. We want a Vice-Chancellor who should be accessible to us,” Dr. Zuhara said. She said that the university order was an insult not only to the women on the campus, but to all women in the State.
Right to know“As teachers, employees and students on this campus, we have every right to know when and where Dr. Salam was threatened by a women group,” she said.
The university issued the order on Saturday restricting women from meeting Dr. Salam citing reasons of an assault threat from “trained and organised women groups using goonda-like activities.” Dr. Zuhara asked the Vice-Chancellor why he didn’t complain when there was an assault threat against him from some women groups.
“The threat is the creation of the Vice-Chancellor and a few people around him. No one else, including the police, knows about such a threat. We will not allow him to rule us from his hideout,” she said.
Employee leaders Sarasamma, Padmaja and Sreelata also addressed the protesters.
