JNU Hostel - Policing students is breach of right say student community

From - indiatoday.intoday.in

The protest over harsh restrictions on the residents of Daulat Ram College's hostel - which the administration is now planning to remove - has prompted the student community to speak out on how such prohibitions are unhelpful and unnecessary.

At the Jawaharlal Nehru University, for example, there are only a few restrictions on what students can do in the hostels. Although JNU's hostels house graduate students, as opposed to undergraduates at Daulat Ram, many believe the relative liberty its rules offer are conducive to an academic environment.

"We know that security is important for students, but we don't think it is an excuse for the administration to start policing what we do on campus. They have often tried to do things, but we have always opposed that because our understanding is that moral policing doesn't really help. It is not the solution, it doesn't act as a deterrent," Radhika Krishnan, a PhD candidate at JNU, said.

Other colleges in DU's North Campus, such as Lady Shri Ram and Miranda House, too do not have such restrictive rules for hostel residents as Daulat Ram.

Officials in these colleges said they allow students to use cellphones and laptops for academic work and do not see how prohibiting these gadgets would be helpful.

"Miranda House has no such restrictions. A long time ago, there were some problems about the timing of the hostels. But the girls and the administration were able to reach a compromise," Aranya Shankar, an MA student at Miranda House, said.

"Every college student is an adult and policing them is stupid. What harm can possibly come from carrying a laptop or personal lives is none of their business," another student said.

At Indraprastha College, students not are only allowed to use mobile phones and laptops, the administration has also set up wi-fi networks across the campus that gives them access to the Internet.

"We only have restrictions on using mobiles in the classroom when a lecture or a seminar is on. Other than that, student can always use wi-fi where available," Dr Babli Moitra Saraf, the principal, said. She added that the university itself had installed 80 computers in the IT centre, and allowed students to use Internet whenever they wanted.

"We also have no way to monitor their usage... Of course, students are using the computers for research and academic purposes as well as for social networking. But we can't be monitoring them to such an extent to stop this. Students around such rules," Saraf said.

The IP College hostel also allows students private rooms, with latches, although they have rules for when students can enter and leave the hostels.

"We do have restrictions on timing, but these are related to the security of the girls. And the girls and their parents are comfortable with the rules," Saraf said.

Students say there is no reason for restrictions like those imposed in the Daulat Ram hostel since they violate the residents' rights, while failing to act as a deterrent to any 'unwanted' behaviour. Those who want to get around them will find a way, they say.

"It is bizarre why Daulat Ram has this. It's not going to help either the students or the administration," Krishnan said. "These ideas are non-starters. It's a complete breach of privacy and does not achieve anything."