Banaras Hindu University (BHU), formerly known as Central Hindu College in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh has been in news constantly for the last eight months. Four incidents of assault and stone pelting have come to the fore in these eight months.
Recently, a dispute between students in BHU took quite an ugly turn. To ensure that such events do not occur again, the police and administration of the city, along with the BHU administration, have started taking measures.
Mr. Subhash Chandra Dubey, Additional Police Commissioner, Varanasi, directed the BHU administration to maintain peace and order on the campus. In consultation with the higher officials, it was advised that maximum use of technology should be made to maintain peace in BHU and CCTV cameras should be installed on the entire campus.
In an exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, Mr. Dubey talked about the same.
PUTTING CCTV CAMERAS IN CAMPUS
Mr. Dubey stated, “CCTV Cameras are the most essential tool for transparency in today’s time. If we want to avoid crime, then cameras give a guarantee of security”.
He further added, “If we talk about BHU, then in the last few years mostly small conflicts amongst students took place which in turn became violent. We have always come across leads that some chaotic elements from outside enter the hostels silently and start living there with false names. These are the ones that create ruckus around the campus. Mostly it has happened that a person indulges in violence and the action taken is on someone else. That is why we suggested to the Vice-Chancellor of the University that cameras should be installed in the entire campus so that the real culprits can be caught.”
DECISIONS TAKEN WITH OFFICIALS OF BHU
On asked about what were the decisions taken by him in a meeting held with the officials of the University, Mr. Dubey told Indian Masterminds, “The first decision was of putting CCTV cameras in the whole campus, including hostels. And second, was regarding illegal migrants. As per the BHU administration, these migrants are living in hostels in an unauthorized way and are not leaving the premises. These complaints came especially from Birla A and C hostel. So we suggested doing videography of all the students living in the hostel to easily differentiate between authorized and the unauthorized students as their details with pictures are available in the record with University itself.”
He further suggested giving such students a notice period of one week during which they should leave the campus. If they fail to do so, then an FIR will be filed against them.
SECURITY MEASURES
Talking about other security measures, Mr. Dubey said “We are reviewing all those people or students against whom FIR has been filed by BHU administration in last 5 years for doing violence or any other anti-social activities, as it will help us to identify them and know their real identity.”
On a personal level, the IPS officer is patrolling the campus on regular basis with his team. He informed Indian Masterminds, “Police will not enter the campus without administration’s permission. It will only enter when they will be called by officials of the University as it is the Temple of Knowledge and Police is for emergency services only. We only want to become emergency medicines for students.”
Furthermore, they have also created a Whatsapp group in which along with him and some other police officers, all the students, wardens, and officials of BHU have been added so that they can get updated easily if an untoward incident takes place on campus again.
ADMINISTRATION’S FUTURE MOVE FOR BHU
On asking him about his move if such a thing occurs on campus again, Mr. Dubey said “We hope that nothing like this happens again because it is better if an issue is nipped in the bud, otherwise it tends to grow into bigger problems. With the help of the University officials, we will try to solve such issues as quickly as possible, so that other students can study without any fear.”
One hopes the new measures would ward off trouble mongers from the BHU.
