Pratima Gond walked right into the middle of a storm as she fearlessly tried to protect a female student being beaten up by 6-7 guards during a lathi-charge in Banaras Hindu University on Saturday night.
I kept telling them I was a professor, but they didn’t stop. The only thing I thought then was I had to get the girl out of there. I had to protect her and I only did that.Pratima Gond, Admin Warden and Assistant Professor of Sociology
On the evening of Saptami in BHU the campus is far from festive. The massive pandal in Madhuban Park has drawn hundreds lesser than what it normally does. As performances continue one after another on stage, Prof Gond is at a fellow professor’s house trying to string into words what has happened to her in the last few days.
As you walk in, you instantly see her broken fingers. "I held the girl in my left hand but the security wasn't budging. They began repeatedly hitting me on my head. There are blood clots here which pain immensely. While I was trying to protect my head I broke my fingers," she says in a resilient tone.
The VC of BHU, Girish Chandra Tripathi, has been in the eye of a storm after the protests demanding security for girls began. In spite of one of the professors being hurt, he hasn't reached out to her even once.
Gond says the lathi-charge on the girls in the hostel was absolutely unwarranted.
They were protesting with slogans. There was nothing violent in their means.Pratima Gond, Admin Warden and Assistant Professor of Sociology
She understands the need for change and says she supports these young girls who are challenging existing norms. "Our ancestors challenged norms and that's how we got here. If they will things will get better," she says.
The trauma will take her a while to recover from, she says. This has impacted not only her health but also her self-respect.
Video Producer: Anmol Saini
Video Editor: Vivek Gupta and Ashutosh Bhawdwaj
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