‘Insult to daughter’, says Smriti Irani on AMU’s diktat on women entering library

New Delhi: Taking strong offence to Aligarh Muslim University Vice Chancellor, Lt Gen Zameer Uddin Shah’s remarks that undergraduate women in the campus should not be allowed in the library, Human Resources Development Minister Smriti Irani's office on Tuesday sought a report from the university.

In a letter to the University, the HRD Ministry said, “This is a violation of the fundamental rights of women. The contravention of fundamental rights will not permitted.”

Shah rejected the demand of women students for access to the Maulana Azad Library, by saying there would be "four times more boys" in the library if girls were allowed in.

The All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) general secretary Jagmati Sangwan on Tuesday termed VC's statement as 'unfortunate', and called for action against people making such statements.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chairperson Barkha Shukla strongly condemned Shah's statement, and said that this reflects the university's mindset.

"The statement that if the girls are allowed in the library, then guys will get attracted and crowd the place, shows the kind of mindset that is prevalent there. This is wrong, and in the current times, women can't be oppressed," Barkha Shukla said.

She said the library should be expanded to accommodate more students rather than oppressing women.

"If there is lack of space then expand the library, after all the colleges and universities are there to give education to students," she added.

The Maulana Azad Library reportedly has more and a better stock of books than the Women's College library. This is the reason behind the demand of Women's College students to access the main library, however they have never been given membership of the library.