New Delhi: Even my daughter is accompanied by my wife or myself when she returns home late, Supreme Court judge Arun Mishra said on Thursday. The judge made this remark while hearing a petition, which had objected to hostel curfew timings for girls in the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) hostel.
The plea called it discriminatory that the boys had a deadline of 10 PM whereas the girls had to report back by 8 PM.
According to Justice Mishra, the restriction on hostel outdoor timings had security and safety of female students in mind and that there was nothing ex-facie bad about it.
"We should not interfere with the 8 PM restriction. We should have concerns about the safety of the girls too," said Justice Mishra, who headed the bench in the top court.
Appearing for a BHU male student, advocate Prashant Bhushan, however, contended that the restrictions were "draconian" in nature and that hostel rules smacked of bias and prejudice.
Bhushan added how can there be a rule that non-vegetarian food will not be served in girl's hostel.
At this, the bench asked him if he could show a written order on this prohibition.
"Is there a written order prohibiting non-vegetarian food in girl's hostel? If there is none, on what basis we will pass any order on this?" the Court asked Bhushan.
Justice Mishra, however, said that it would have been proper if Bhushan represented the girl students who felt aggrieved by any restriction by hostel authorities.
"Let girl students file a petition. If you are willing to represent them, you should do it," he told Bhushan.
Even as the Court declined to interfere with the hostel regulations, it recorded in its order that "if any girl wants to file an application for redressal of her grievances, BHU authority should consider it objectively."
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