On 4th November 2019, Mr. Abhishek Aryan Sinha, a final year undergraduate student and a current resident of Hall of Residence 1 wrote an email to the Dean of Student’s Affairs expressing his concerns over various issues the hall residents had been facing.
Two days later, on 6th November 2019, while Abhishek was out for a lecture, he received multiple calls from the hall office which he could not respond to then. On calling back, he was informed that the hall warden wanted to meet him urgently in the hall office. Abhishek demanded a formal mail regarding the same which he never received.
After the lecture, he received another call from one of his wingmates informing him that some hall office staff had come looking for him in the wing. Finding Abhishek absent they had locked up his room with a lock they brought with themselves.
Later on the same day, Abhishek received another request to see the warden. As he had a pre-scheduled meeting with the Director at the same time he replied in negative. Soon after, he received a text from his wingmate that his room had been unlocked by a hall office staff. Post concluding his meeting with the Director, Abhishek alongside a few other hall residents met the wardens. The discussion on the various hall related issues followed.
On being questioned about why was Abhishek’s room locked, the warden clarified that the room had been locked for the safety of his belongings. They searched for Abhishek in the hall and when they could not find him he ordered the staff to lock his room. Students argued that other rooms of the hall were also unlocked but they were not subjected to the same action. The act of locking the room, they argued, is not a routine practice and was purposefully done targeting Abhishek.
The warden had recently sent out an email to the hall, a part of which read, “For your information, hall premise is not a private place which includes your room. Hence, you may not do what you indent do at your home, which is considered as your private place.” Some students had also reported a verbal order asking them to keep the door ajar when someone from the opposite sex was present inside. When questioned on the same the warden argued that having your door locked with a girl inside raises doubts. The warden further added, as has been reported by the students present at the meeting, “For your information, Sir, I have seen a girl and a boy naked.” He particularly stressed on the fact that we are living in India and not the USA. On further argument, he concluded, “You guys can do whatever you want. I am not anymore going to follow that one (on his previous orders). You want to lock, lock! You can bring one, two, ten (talking about the issue of having girls in the room), I’m okay with it.” He further concluded that he was okay with all that the students do and they can go and spoil themselves.
Thereafter, several students present at the meeting, report that the warden shouted at Abhishek for mailing his grievance, claiming that he was trying to defame the hall management and the wardens and reiterating that there were no such issues in the hostel. The warden said that not keeping him in CC while registering a complaint with DoSA was, for him, an attempt to defame him and the hall. When students argued that even after multiple complaints there has been no action from the hall administration, the warden replied that he was unaware of the issues because the hall lacked proper communication channels. He insisted the students to file complaints through complaint registers. However, the students claimed that it was exactly what they have been doing. The complaint registers, when considered, had unattended entries confirming the claims.
The meeting ended on this note. The conclusions of it and the actions taken by the hall administration are still awaited.
