DBRANLU Sonipat students protest over poor academic standards, sexist remarks, inadequate infrastructure

Students of the Dr BR Ambedkar National Law University (DBRANLU), Sonipat have resorted to protests on account of the administration's failure to ensure basic infrastructure and alleged misconduct on the part of the Registrar, among other issues..The students claim that the University has repeatedly rejected their demands for basic infrastructure and other facilities that were promised to be put in place from the current academic year..Among the issues raised by the students in a representation sent to the University Vice-Chancellor Dr Archana Mishra are - poor hygiene and sanitary conditions in hostels, lack of permanent faculty, sexist comments passed by the Registrar from time to time, inadequate library resources and unsuitable timings.One student revealed the ground situation to Bar & Bench, saying, "Even after 4 years, there is no permanent faculty at the University. When we push for the appointment of permanent faculty, the Registrar shows his authority by passing statements like - "Permanent faculty nahi aayegi November-December tak, karlo jo karna hai," (No permanent faculty will be appointed until November-December. Do what you want to)..Despite having collected fees for WIFI and air conditioning in classrooms, the University is yet to put these facilities in place."These are not one-off incidents but have become the habit of the University administration. The Registrar explicitly mentioned to us before we began our internship break in July, that there would be WIFI in hostels and ACs installed in classrooms, but the situation remains unchanged. Not just this, the hygiene and sanitation in hostels is also very poor. The Dean of Academic Affairs and the Registrar have disregarded all our attempts to address these grave issues," the student said..The representation also states that there is no support or involvement of the University administration in improving the Internship and Placement Cell or in developing the moot court halls as advertised in the University brochure and website."When we talk to the Registrar and other authorities on the matter, they have nothing to say but to put the matter off endlessly to another day and time. All our extra-curricular and co-curricular activities have been compromised on since the beginning," another student mentioned..Video recordings of the ongoing protests on campus reveal administrative officials threatening students to end the protests, lest action be taken against them."Not only are they confronting us with threats while we protest and threatening to not grant the marks allotted for attendance, but some faculty members have also resorted to calling our parents and warning them against action being taken against their wards if we do not end protests. There are also call recordings of the faculty member washing their hands off on the aspect of inadequate and poor infrastructure," apprised another student..The students' ire was also invoked by sexist gestures passed by the administration on students' attire."The Registrar made a statement that women should wear decent clothes and not reveal their legs. Subsequently, a notice was also put up in campus for boys to 'follow the dress decorum' and for girls to wear 'decent and proper attire,'" students said.Even as the Vice-Chancellor addressed the students on Wednesday, nothing concrete has emerged from the talks..The demands put forth in the representation include but are not limited to:- Publication of the minutes of meetings held by administration and financial statement on the website, - Resignation of the Registrar, - Revoking marks allocated for attendance, - Removing restrictions on movement of students within campus, - Appointment of permanent faculty, - Developing an academic model at par with NLU standards, on lines of Ivy League models,- Improving internship and placement facilities, - Increasing time allotted to accessing reading hall and library, - Arranging for trash disposal on a daily basis, - Ensuring better accountability of hostel staff to maintain hygiene in hostels..Bar & Bench has reached out to the Vice-Chancellor and the Registrar for their comments on the ongoing situation at the University..A similar crisis is ongoing at Dharmashastra National Law University, Jabalpur.[Read Representation here]