I write this as a student who has been studying at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) since 2016, with complete faith in the institution’s academic excellence and its socio-political soundness. My words, then, are intended solely to bring the issues women students at AMU face to the fore – and not to demean the status or reputation of the institute in any way.Over the last week or so, the university has been named on primetime shows in the mainstream media, because of a student’s comment on the hijab on a social media site.Here’s what happened. An Instagram page named ‘Political Blasphemy’ posted a picture about how Muslim women are forced to wear a hijab under the guise of free choice. The picture was subject to numerous interpretations and criticised by some for being Islamophobic. A female BTech second-year student commented on the post, “And one more thing hindu girls are forced to cover themselves in amu hostels…… Indian education is teaching us to stay covered otherwise it will excite a man to sexualize us.”Different students replied to her, asking, “In which hostel?” but the female student did not name one. A male student entered the fray, got into an argument with the woman, and then said, “Lockdown ke bad Inshallah aap ko bhi hijab pehnaya jayega wo bhi peetal ka (I hope that after the lockdown, you will also be made to wear a hijab, that to one made of brass).”The female student file a complaint against the man with the senior superintendent of police, Aligarh. Both individuals involved have been presenting their sides of the story. Further, after the controversy garnered attention, the male student has received death threats and, ironically, rape threats about his mother and sister. The university proctor has set up an enquiry committee to look into the case and issued a show-cause notice to the male student.Almost every news channel covered this incident, while spinning their own narratives. Many neglected the details and presented it as purely political; others just propagated the lie that women students are actually forced to wear a hijab, which is not true. The reality is that there is no such rule and none of the women students – whether Muslim or non-Muslim – are forced to wear a hijab or cover themselves. The AMU PRO has made the same remark in a press release.Also read: As Shaheen Bagh Fights, Where Are the Women of Aligarh?All these allegations, counter allegations and clarifications are being made by people who are trying to show their concern for ‘Aligarh Muslim University ki chhatrayein (the female students of Aligarh Muslim University)’. All the prevalent narratives on this issue have some elements of truth in them, but the real issue of concern for female students in AMU is completely absent.The movement for women’s education in Aligarh is mainly associated with the efforts of Sheikh Abdullah, as he founded a girls’ school in Aligarh in 1906. But the idea behind the establishment of the school was not to make them more free or independent. Instead, as Gin Minault writes in Secluded Scholars, the emphasis was on making them someone who could continue family traditions and obey authority.A residential hall for women named after Sheikh Abdullah is surrounded by towering walls and comprises nine hostels for women students, the Women’s College campus and two senior secondary schools for girls. It is a different world in itself – almost like a cage with all the basic facilities available.When female education began in Aligarh, people were not ready to send their girls to school. But with his consistent efforts, Sheikh Abdullah finally succeeded in persuading families (mainly the elite). He assured the families that their ‘civilised’, ‘decent’ and ‘cultured’ daughters will be put in a completely purdah-observing boarding house, and will be taught basic mathematics, needle work, Urdu and accounting, so that they will turn out to be better wives and mothers.It took decades to reform the curriculum for women in the college. Definitely, things have now changed; the necessity of scientific education is universally accepted, at least in public forums. Female students are officially trained to be better doctors, engineers, professors, lawyers, judges, public speakers and journalists – and not better wives. The old Women’s College has become a hub of immensely talented students with a variety of qualities and abilities. But despite that, the severe restrictions on free movement and a frequent invasion of privacy continue.Even as late as 2011, students of the AMU Women’s College were not allowed to enter the university’s Maulana Azad Library, regarded as one of Asia’s best libraries. Unlike male students, the women had to do with the ill-equipped library in the Women’s College. Later, the Union human resource development ministry advised the AMU administration to allow women students to access the Maulana Azad Library, on account of their constitutional rights. But even the Centre, ironically, said that “the final decision lies with the university”.Also read: What Aligarh Muslim University Can Learn From Its Women StudentsLiving in Abdullah Hall is much like quarantine – it seems fine, people even consider it to be a good option, but the reality is much more painful. None of the women students are allowed to go out except on Sundays, that too with 5:30 pm as the ‘curfew time’. The Sunday outing can also be cancelled if it turns out to be Valentine’s Day or a festival, or more importantly, if the provost of the Hall feels that the coming Sunday is bad or unsafe. It sounds absurd but the movement of students in Abdullah Hall and their access to free spaces is based on the arbitrary determination of ‘safe’ and ‘unsafe’, ‘good’ and ‘bad’ spaces.The former president of the Women’s College Student’s Union (WCSU, tried to get the long-standing demand of outings being allowed on all day approved. But even after many efforts, the authorities agreed to just three days in a week and called these ‘special outings’. So women students now have three days a week free from complete imprisonment.The women’s hostels are “protected” by high walls, tall canopies and several enclosures. We are not allowed to directly meet Swiggy and Zomato delivery men to collect our parcels. When some women students were caught smoking (which was an offence by default, but only for women) in the hostel, the headgirls and warden treated this offence as a heinous crime and snatched away their phones, went through their personal photographs, called them tawaifs (prostitutes), and contacted their parents and said, “We have your daughter’s nudes, would you like to see them?”The main campus, on the other hand, is a whole other world. Male students are allowed to go anywhere, at whatever time they want. They smoke whenever and wherever they want, and not a single official will dare to call them “badtameez”. It’s 2020, but women students of Abdullah Hall will not get permission to attend coaching classes outside the hostel. Women who wish to fight against these restrictions and demand reform are met with great resistance from anti-feminist women, from the authorities, and definitely from the propagators of tehzeeb (etiquettes).One such group, the Islamic Youth Federation (IYF), covered the old, creaking walls of the university with posters of a ‘caged bird’ in April 2019. The bird was protected behind bars of ‘faith’, ‘dignity’, ‘submission’ and ‘morality’. The illustration read, “All the evil wants women freedom.” The poster was a horrific endorsement of the idea that women must be protected from ‘monsters’ of ‘feminism’, ‘liberalism’, ‘atheism’ and ‘communism’ in order to avoid sexual abuse.On February 12, as reported by LiveMint, a clash between Republic TV staff and some university students had resulted in sedition charges against 14 male students (the sedition charges were dropped later). Almost 30 students of the Women’s College led the protest to the registrar’s office and blocked the building, chanting the slogan “RSS murdabad, chhatra ekta zindabad (Down with RSS, long live student unity)”. The building remained locked till 12:30 am. The wardens, a few teachers, the non-teaching staff and the sloganeering young women were all holed up inside together.The next day, the provost contacted these students’ parents and told them their daughters were found “mingling with boys at night”. The implication of that statement is clear.AMU is not alone in restricting its female students. Different institutes do it differently. Gargi College made headlines when a crowd of middle-aged men entered the college without any security check. The CRPF and police personnels deployed at the campus remained mum spectators when men chanting ‘Jai Shree Ram’ catcalled the students and groped them. Men reportedly even masturbated in front of women.Today, everyone is discussing the issues female students face at Aligarh Muslim University face – and also peddling fake news about the varsity to satisfy their political masters. But the problems that we really face, on a daily basis, have been ignored. These problems go far beyond AMU – they stem from the patriarchy and misogyny prevalent in Indian society. Blaming one particular religion or community for this is simply passing the buck.Mansi Singh is a student at Aligarh Muslim University.