The Banaras Hindu University (or BHU) has recently appointed its first female chief proctor, Royona Singh, for the first time in the 101-year history of the post.

She was born and raised in the French town of Royan for ten years, and she still frequently visits Europe and Canada today.

These foreign visits have shaped Royona’s views and opinions concerning the restrictions that have been put on female students at the BHU. Royona does not believe in the restrictions on dress and alcohol for female students, and she also does not believe in the ban on vegetarian food in the mess halls.

Royona’s foreign experience showed her the much more relaxed attitude that many other nations have on clothing and alcohol. She also considers the alcohol restriction pointless. All of the girls at the university are older than 18 years old, so it is pointless to restrict their drinking.

Concerning the dress restriction, Royona firmly believes that a girl should be allowed to wear whatever she feels comfortable wearing, especially given the onerous length of the college day.

If a girl feels most comfortable wearing a tank top and short shorts, then those pieces of clothing should not be prohibited.

Additionally, Royona does not believe in movement restrictions on female students. The warden and the security staff had recently informed a molestation survivor and her friends that they should not step outside of their hostels after 6:00 p.m. at night.

Contrarily, Royona believes that girls should be allowed to move anywhere at any time. She says that these girls should have their dignity restored, instead of being restricted further.

Royona also announced that she would be implementing several measures to keep issues of eve-teasing and rowdy behaviour under control. Royona Singh’s new liberal policies will ensure that female students are allowed to do what pleases them, and therefore, allow these students to keep their dignity.

Image Credit: Kuber Patel, Rosehub / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Image Reference: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BHU_Main_Gate,_Banaras_Hindu_University.jpg