RAIPUR: The ongoing protest at the Hidayatullah National Law University (HNLU) in Chhattisgarh has intensified with the students threatening to go on a hunger strike if their demands were not met by September 5.
The students have been seeking the removal of Vice-Chancellor Sukh Pal Singh and protesting against alleged sexual harassment by faculty members, lax administration and arbitrary rules.
Even though there were little details forthcoming about allegations of sexual harassment, students have alleged that several of their demands have been rejected by Singh.
The students began their protests seeking Singh’s dismissal soon after the Chhattisgarh High Court quashed his extension plea on August 27 and there were reports that the V-C would appeal against the court order.
The students, who staunchly oppose the move, also began a campaign under #HNLUKiAzaadi across the social media to safeguard the institute from "repressive, arbitrary rules and non-transparent administration".
The Students Bar Association of HNLU is seeking a probe into complaints of alleged sexual and mental harassment of students and lifting of restriction within the campus.
“It's not that our demands came up now. But the VC, whose tenure faced serious allegations ranging from embezzlement to apathy, has ignored our fundamental issues", Snehal Ranjan Shukla, president, Students Bar Association, HNLU, told TNIE.
With no end to the peaceful demonstration by the law students, the university Chancellor appointed Principal Secretary (Law) Ravi Shankar Sharma as an interim V-C.
Sharma’s dialogues with the students yielded no results though he acknowledged their right to raise demands and promised to look into their grievances on September 5.
During Sharma's visit to Delhi on September 2, the alumni of HNLU had impressed upon him that the demands were genuine and had been pending for the past several years.