According to the notices that were served by the UoH authorities, the head principal penalized a student Rs 30,000 for harboring unauthorized persons, keeping/consuming banned substances and cooking food inside the hostel room in addition to having used prohibited electrical appliances in the room.

Hyderabad: From harboring unauthorized persons to storing/consuming banned substances, University of Hyderabad (UoH) officials were shocked to find that rules were violated by students during searches carried out Monday in university halls.

According to the notices that were served by the UoH authorities, the head principal penalized a student Rs 30,000 for harboring unauthorized persons, keeping/consuming banned substances and cooking food inside the hostel room in addition to having used prohibited electrical appliances in the room.

Another student was fined Rs.20,000 for harboring unauthorized persons, using prohibited electrical appliances and an induction cooker in the room. The Chief Warden directed the students to pay the fine to the UoH Hostel Fund within 10 days from the date of issuance of the notice, otherwise the amount will be automatically added to their dues to the hostel/mess without further notice.

However, the action by UoH authorities did not go down well with the student community, who protested on Tuesday and called the raids “moral policing” and a “violation of privacy.”

In a statement, the SFI UoH unit said a flying squad led by the head principal filmed students when they were not even fully dressed in their rooms. The SFI called the raids an attack on the dignity and privacy of students.

The SFI UoH unit said the chief warden raided the homes to cover up his inability to resolve fundamental problems in the homes. “We have continuously demanded that mess and hostel committees resolve student issues at the grassroots level. However, the chief warden is not able to conduct household elections or form mess committees. We also require shared kitchens and hot water dispensers in every hostel. The Managing Director failed to understand the sensitivity of these issues and did not even attempt to address them,” the SFI UoH unit said and demanded the immediate resignation of the Managing Director.