delhi

Updated: Apr 29, 2017 19:51 IST

A women’s hostel at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IITD) has put up a notice asking women to wear “full covered decent western or Indian dresses” on their house day.

House day is an annual event at the institute where residents can invite guests in the hostel for an hour. The event is scheduled for April 20.

The notice, put up at Himadri hostel and signed by the warden, was shared by the inmates with Pinjra Tod - a students fighting against discriminatory rules for women in hostels, universities and colleges.

Calling it an act of moral policing, a member of Pinjra Tod said, “Why do our administrators feel this desperate need to police women wear.”

Meanwhile, Sreedevi Upadhyayula, warden of Himadri Hostel and associate professor at Department of Chemical Engineering, said no such dress code has been issued and that it could be a prank.

“Why will I slam such dress codes on students? This is not a thing I would do. It looks like some prank by students and this time it has even gone out of the hostel. I will have to go check the notice board and see as I am told it has my signature as well. If such a notice has been put up I will call a meeting and investigate the matter,” said Upadhyayula.

There are two girls’ hostels in IIT Delhi - Himadri and Kailash.

“This is the first time that such a notice has been put up. We have been told verbally in the past to be fully covered but a written notice has been issued for the first time,” said a female student from BTech final year, who lives in Himadri Hostel.

A former student, who lived in the same hostel, said they were given such directions all the time though “no one really followed it and no one was punished for not following it”.