Thiruvananthapuram: Dozens of students and political activists protested at a college in Kerala’s Kozhikode district on Monday, following alleged sexist remarks by a lecturer.
On Monday, students and volunteers affiliated to different political parties carried out marches to the Farook College, Kozhikode, in protest against the alleged sexist remarks by one of the lecturers.
The lecturer had made harsh remarks against women students saying, instead of dressing decently and wearing their hijabs properly, they were “displaying their melons”.
Taking strong offence to his statement, students belonging to various political parties including the Congress, Communist Party of India Marxist and the Bharatiya Janata Party participated in protests and marches to the college.
Incidentally, the criticism about women’s attire by the college lecturer — and the subsequent protests against his comments — came hours after Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman said during his visit to the United States that his country would not impose the abaya on women, and that it was up to women to choose a dignified attire.
The students in Kozhikode billed their rally a ‘melon march’.
Some of them carried water melons and others had banners with pictures of sliced water melons to protest the lecturer’s indecent remarks.
Student organisations who joined the protest included the Kerala Students’ Union, the Students’ Federation of India and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad.
Also joining the protest were the women’s wing of the SFI’s district subcommittee and the ABVP district committee.
A strong police contingent, including pink police members, stopped the protesters at the college gate.
The protesters staged a sit-in at the gate, demanding that a case be filed against the concerned teacher.
The college had recently witnessed another protest after some staff members allegedly thrashed students for celebrating the Holi festival on campus. Five staff members have been charged in connection with the incident.
