New hostel laws are sexist and violate rights: An open letter to V-C of Jamia Millia Islamia

Respected sir,

I need not emphasise the importance of one of the basic preconditions in any educational institution - the absence of fear - to an academician of your stature. Yet, I, an occupant of Hall of Girls Residence (commonly known as the "girls' hostel"), feel compelled to write this letter to you anonymously only because of the four-letter word.

In an ideal place of learning, I would fearlessly walk into your office where I would be welcomed and would sit down and fearlessly put down my opposition to the existing and the new hostel rules, which I believe are blatantly sexist; then you would present your side of the story after which we could discuss, deliberate and debate the matter. In an even more ideal place of learning, you would have consulted me and all the other girls of the hostel before deciding the rules that define our student life at Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI). But had this place of learning or even the world been any close to that ideal, I would not be complaining about gender discrimination in the first place.

With this letter, I wish to request you to consider the concerns of this resident from the girls' hostel before you prepare your reply to the Delhi Commission of Women (DCW), which has issued a show cause notice to JMI over allegations of gender discrimination owing to the revised and existing hostel rules for girls. I am sure my position echoes the views of not only fellow residents at JMI, but also those of many other universities, and many women and men throughout the country who believe in equality and freedom. The issue of discriminatory hostel regulations for women is of course not limited only to JMI, but persists in universities and colleges across the country.

I am no expert at law, but as an aware citizen and student of political science in school, I know enough that the hostel rules enforced by JMI violate my fundamental rights.

As made clear by the attendance and leave rules mentioned in the manual for girls' and boys' hostels (available online) respectively, the regulations are extremely different for the two genders. The manual for the girls' hostels states that "all girls shall get their attendance recorded in the evening during ROLL CALL by the caretaker", while there is no mention of a Roll Call in the Hall of Boy's Residence guidelines. Further, girls can be granted "leaves and a maximum of two late night permission (till 10.00 pm) in a month (which has also been revoked this year )" after seeking "prior permission of the warden 24 hours in advance on a request duly recommended by their parents/local guardians, endorsing full address of the place to be visited and contact number". On the other hand, the manual for boys says that those staying in the hostel "should return in the hostel by 10.00 pm. Residents returning to the hostel after the specified time shall record their name in the hostel register kept with the security guard at the gate indicating reasons for their late coming". It is important to note here that there is no roll call for the boys even after 10.00 pm and that they do not need their parents/local guardian's permission to come late to the hostel or even take leave from the hostel.

I could go on about how the rules are starkly different for boys and girls for seeking admission to the JMI hostel. It is compulsory for girls to have two local guardians living in National Capital Region who would be interviewed before admissions and need to submit an affidavit undertaking the responsibility of the applicant. It is not mandatory for the boys to have a local guardian or to produce an affidavit. Boys do not even get interviewed for hostel seats like the girls, forget about their guardians being interviewed.

This difference in the hostel rules is a clear violation of my Right to Equality under Article 15 of the Constitution, which prohibits the state from discriminating against any citizen on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. Making it mandatory for adult women to enter the hostel premises by 8.00 pm and asking them to get a signed permission from their local guardians or parents, 24 hours in advance, every time they decide to come late or take leave is a blatant violation of my Right to Freedom, which protects my life and personal liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.

Amongst many other rights, Article 21 bestows every citizen with the right to live with human dignity and believe me sir, there is no dignity in seeking permission from guardians or parents every single time I want to run errands of any kind. For a person like me, who has classes everyday till 5 pm, three hours are barely sufficient to have a healthy personal, academic, social and love life, and I see no human dignity in such a life.

Whereas the state is the custodian of the rights of its citizens, I find it disrespectful to our Constitution that a state-sponsored central university is violating the fundamental rights of many of its students. Unconstitutional discrimination on grounds of sex and taking away the student's right to life and personal liberty is not what a place of learning should be associated with. And for a state-sponsored university to have done that for years raises a question on how the state (present or that of the yesteryear's) wants to educate its children - how sincerely it wants to promote the welfare of women and gender equality and how progressive its understanding of such issues is.

Secondly, according to various reports in the media, the university's spokesperson and senior officials have citied security reasons for the revised rules. So do we believe that we can only secure women by locking them up because the capital city is unsafe for them? It's like saying, "Since my family has a history of lung cancer and I might be vulnerable too, let me not throw away this cigarette, but just get rid of one of my lungs or rather both."

Even if this bizarre argument stands valid for a moment, should we become ignorant to the latest official statistics that have found that violence against women - such as rape and molestation - were committed by people known to the victims, such as relatives, neighbors and employers in 90 percent of the cases?

Sir, if you are scared for the safety of your girl students, you should not be worried about letting them stay outside hostel and letting them roam around the roads. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), it is their home and workplace, in this case the university campus, you should be thinking about. And if you think asking the girls to be inside by 8 pm is for their "safety", let me tell you these crimes and violations that you want to save us from also happen before 8 pm , sometime early in the morning, or even in a university classroom. Trust me on this, I am a woman.

Yes, I understand that the city is unsafe. But as a young adult woman, at least let me decide how I want to live, study, move, work and love in this city. Every day, I am constantly making my own decisions about what to wear, where to go, where to walk, what transport to take, and whom to meet. Sometimes I feel brave, sometimes I police myself. But let this decision be mine. Let me learn.

This brings me to another question, don't you want "safety" for the boys staying in the hostel? I am hoping you are well aware of the latest NCRB report which suggests that men outnumber women in all categories of unnatural deaths - except in the case of fire-related accidents - which include road accidents and murders and Delhi is famous for both.

Why the concern of "safety" is even more discriminatory is because while applying for the hostels you made our parents sign an affidavit where they need to agree that the "hostel/university authorities shall have no liability towards my ward when she is outside the hostel premises." Even the disclaimer at the beginning of the hostel manual makes the same declaration. Then why such discriminatory rules in the name of "safety" and in the name our "own best interests"?

And if you still think that such rules are in the girls' or, in this case, in my interest, then please let me know if you think Bharat Ratna awardee Aruna Asaf Ali, after whom we have a hostel named in JMI, could become what she did had she been told to fight for freedom only till 8 pm. Could Sonia Gandhi, after whom we have an upcoming hostel named, become the leader she is if she had to take written permission from her parents every time she came home after 8 or did not come home at all? I am not saying I am or want to be the next Sonia Gandhi or the next Abadi Bano Beghum, but irrespective of what I can be and want to become and achieve, these hostel rules are not helping. Rather, they a big deterrent to my growth.

And Sir, if you are concerned that my parents would oppose you on that one fine day when you decide to abolish the discriminatory, sexist and oppressive rules, you need not fall weak. I will be there for you. My parents do not own me. And whenever they have tried to impose any rules, which are no different from the ones we have in the hostel, I have resented. Sometimes I won, sometimes I didn't, but whenever I had to accept their rules I did so with protest. When an 18-year-old is allowed to cast her vote and decide the future of her country, she should have the right to decide when to return home or to the hostel where her sole purpose of stay is progress.

I know Jamia Millia Islamia is not the only university to have such gender-biased rules, but that is not reason enough to still not do away with the archaic rules.

Do away with the 8pm deadline. Do away with the rule that forces us to get permissions from local guardians. Do away with sexism on campus. Do away with gender inequality.

Now you may say that only a few hostel girls find the rules regressive, and you may or may not be right. There might be a few girls demanding a change, or they could be many. But in the spirit of democracy, we do hope that you will pay heed to our concerns.

In the end, I want to reiterate that this letter should not be seen as an "attack" on Jamia Millia Islamia, especially since we are often targeted because of our status as a "minority" institution. Discriminatory hostel regulations on women exist in colleges and universities across the country. I would like to believe that Jamia Millia Islamia, in which I have also learnt and grown tremendously, has the potential to lead the way in abolishing such restrictive norms.

Do listen to me. Listen to us, sir.

In the hope that we are able to meet face to face someday,

A Jamia girls' hostel resident.

(You can show your support by signing this petition.)